Sell Your Commercial Property In Durham, NC

Who rents in Durham

The 2020–2024 American Community Survey counts 291,467 residents and 126,550 occupied homes in Durham, of which 60,347, or 47.7%, are rented. That is above the 44.5% renter share for Durham County and well above North Carolina's 33.4%. Because the city makes up most of the county's population, its rental market and the county's move closely together; the county's median rent, $1,508, is the same as the city's.

Income levels are close to the county's as well: Durham's median household income is $81,619, against $82,316 for the county and $72,388 statewide. The renter base mixes students and staff near Duke, workers commuting to Research Triangle Park, and long-time residents across the city's older neighborhoods.

Duke is the core of that demand. The university and health system employ about 40,000 people, and Duke's state relations office describes it as the largest employer in Durham. The campus and Duke University Hospital sit next to the Ninth Street district, which is why apartments there lease to a steady flow of students and staff. Research Triangle Park, which reports more than 385 companies and over 55,000 people across 7,000 acres, sits southeast of the city near Southpoint and supports biotech and pharmaceutical employment that draws renters into south Durham.

Rents and affordability

Median gross rent in Durham is $1,508 a month, including utilities, which is $280 above the state median. The ACS shows 46.3% of renter households spending 30% or more of income on housing and 21.9% spending half or more. Countywide the 30%-or-more share is 46.2%, nearly the same as the city's. Both are a little lower than in Raleigh, but they still mean that many tenants in older buildings have limited room for large increases at renewal.

HUD's FY2026 Fair Market Rents for the Durham-Chapel Hill area, which sets the baseline for voucher payment standards, are:

The one-bedroom FMR is almost exactly the city's median rent, and the two-bedroom FMR is $203 above it. For owners of older two-bedroom units leasing below that level, voucher tenants can be a realistic part of the mix, though accepting them remains the owner's choice under state law.

The apartment stock

Per the ACS, 42,125 of Durham's 136,837 housing units, or 30.8%, are in buildings with five or more units, compared with 28.1% countywide and 14.2% statewide. The city's 5+ inventory is weighted toward mid-size buildings: 8,837 units are in 5–9 unit buildings, 14,926 in 10–19 unit buildings, 6,914 in 20–49 unit buildings and 11,448 in buildings of 50 or more. Buildings of 5 to 19 units hold 56.4% of apartment units, more than in Raleigh or Charlotte, and the 10–19 unit category alone is larger than the 50+ category. That reflects the garden-style complexes common across Durham's older suburbs.

The median structure was built in 1995, two years newer than the county median of 1993 and four years newer than the state's 1991. Ninth Street and Brightleaf, close to Duke's campuses and downtown, mix older housing with newer infill. Southpoint, at the city's southern edge, leans toward larger suburban-style complexes. In Downtown Durham, the newest and largest buildings compete with older stock on amenities rather than price, which is why well-kept small buildings there often win tenants on rent.

Durham within the Triangle

Durham is the urban core of a smaller metro than Raleigh's. The Durham-Chapel Hill metro area has 601,724 residents, a median gross rent of $1,466 and a renter share of 37.8%, with 21.7% of its housing in 5+ unit buildings. The city's figures are higher on every one of those measures, so most of the metro's apartment trading happens inside Durham itself. Compared with Raleigh, Durham's median rent is $64 lower and its renter share is 1.6 points lower, but its share of apartment units in 5 to 19 unit buildings is higher. For a seller, that means the buyer pool for a mid-size Durham building often includes Raleigh investors comparing the two cities directly, and a lower basis per unit can be a selling point.

Property taxes on apartment buildings in Durham County

North Carolina assesses all property at true value under G.S. 105-284, so apartment buildings carry no special ratio. Durham County's rate table sets the FY2026-27 countywide rate at 57.92 cents per $100 of value, made up of 50.35 cents for operations and 7.57 cents for capital finance. That is up 2.5 cents from 55.42 cents in FY2025-26. The City of Durham's rate is unchanged at 43.71 cents, for a combined $1.0163. On a $3 million building, that is about $30,489 a year.

The same table shows how much rates moved in the prior year. In FY2024-25 the county rate was 79.87 cents and the city rate 59.62 cents, a combined $1.3949. In FY2025-26 they were 55.42 and 43.71 cents, a combined $0.9913. In North Carolina, drops of that size usually come with a reappraisal that raises assessed values, so the rate change alone says little about the bill. When you show a buyer operating history, present actual tax bills for each year.

Downtown carries an extra layer. Properties in the City of Durham's Business Improvement District pay a city-and-district rate of 50.71 cents instead of 43.71 cents, for a combined $1.0863. That adds about $2,100 a year on a $3 million downtown building.

Values stay in place between reappraisals and do not reset on sale. G.S. 105-286 requires reappraisal at least every eighth year, sooner for counties above 75,000 people whose sales ratios drift outside 0.85 to 1.15. Appeals start with informal review and go to the county Board of Equalization and Review, per the N.C. Department of Revenue. The state's deed excise tax under G.S. 105-228.30 is $1 per $500 of price.

Landlord rules and local compliance

Under G.S. 42-14.1, Durham cannot regulate rents on private housing, and since 2024 it cannot require landlords to accept federal vouchers. Deposits are capped by G.S. 42-51 at two weeks' rent for week-to-week tenancies, 1.5 months' rent for month-to-month and two months' rent for longer terms. G.S. 42-52 gives the landlord 30 days after move-out to send an itemized accounting and the balance, or 60 days with an interim accounting, and bars deductions for normal wear and tear. Under G.S. 42-3, the tenant forfeits the lease if rent remains unpaid 10 days after a demand.

G.S. 160D-1207 prevents a citywide rental registry. Durham may require permits only for properties with repeated verified violations in a rolling period or high crime and disorder, and the related fee cannot exceed $500 in a year.

What this means if you own a building here

• Location relative to Duke and RTP drives tenant demand more than citywide averages. Lease data by unit type helps a buyer see that.
• The combined city-county rate has changed in each of the last three fiscal years, so model a buyer's taxes on the FY2026-27 rate of $1.0163 per $100, not on an older bill.
• If your building is in the downtown improvement district, show the extra 7-cent district rate in your numbers up front.
• Mid-size garden buildings are the most common product in Durham, so condition and documented capital work separate one listing from the next.

Skyline Capital Investments buys 5+ unit buildings in Durham and throughout the Triangle. You can estimate value with our apartment building value calculator, check net income definitions in our NOI glossary entry, plan a reinvestment with the 1031 exchange calculator, or see how we make offers on the sell your apartment building page.