Sell Your Commercial Property Fast In Raleigh, NC

Who rents in Raleigh

Raleigh is close to an even split between owners and renters. The 2020–2024 American Community Survey counts 100,202 renter households among 203,443 occupied homes, a 49.3% share. In Wake County as a whole the renter share is 35.9%, and statewide it is 33.4%. The city, in other words, carries a disproportionate share of the county's rental demand, with Cary, Apex and the other suburbs tilted toward ownership.

Renters here are not concentrated in low-income households. Raleigh's median household income is $85,395, compared with $105,768 in Wake County and $72,388 statewide. Demand draws on state government, which is headquartered downtown, on NC State and on the health systems. WakeMed reports 973 licensed beds systemwide in FY2025, 587 of them at its Raleigh Campus. Northwest of the city, Research Triangle Park reports more than 385 companies and over 55,000 people at work across 7,000 acres; Brier Creek is one of the Raleigh neighborhoods closest to it.

Rents and affordability

The median gross rent in Raleigh is $1,572 a month, which includes utilities. That is $51 below the Wake County median of $1,623 and $344 above the state median. The city figure is lower than the county figure partly because Raleigh holds most of the older stock, while new suburban complexes push the county number up.

Cost burden is high. The ACS shows 50.5% of Raleigh's renter households paying 30% or more of income on rent and utilities, and 23.5% paying half or more. The county's share at 30% or more is lower, at 46.6%. For owners of older buildings, that means renewals depend on keeping rent near what local wages support rather than on chasing the top of the market in North Hills or Glenwood South.

HUD's FY2026 Fair Market Rents for the Raleigh-Cary metro area are:

The one-bedroom FMR is about the same as the city's median rent and the two-bedroom FMR is $178 above it. Units in older buildings that lease below these levels can draw on voucher holders as a backup tenant pool, although state law, discussed below, lets the owner decide whether to accept vouchers.

The apartment stock

Raleigh's housing is more multifamily than the county's. According to the ACS, 78,614 of the city's 224,853 housing units, or 35.0%, are in buildings with five or more units, against 24.0% in Wake County and 14.2% statewide. The city's 5+ stock breaks down into 16,218 units in 5–9 unit buildings, 22,755 in 10–19 unit buildings, 14,834 in 20–49 unit buildings and 24,807 in buildings of 50 or more.

That split matters for a seller. Large complexes of 50+ units hold 31.6% of the apartment inventory and attract institutional capital, while buildings of 5 to 19 units hold 49.6% and trade mostly among private investors. In practice, the larger properties cluster in the denser districts such as Downtown Raleigh, Glenwood South and North Hills and along the Brier Creek corridor, while smaller buildings are spread through older neighborhoods.

The median structure in the city was built in 1997, three years older than the county median of 2000 and six years newer than the statewide median of 1991. Half of the city's housing is therefore older than the late 1990s, and for buildings in that older half, roofs, HVAC and plumbing are the main variables a buyer will inspect.

How Raleigh compares within the Triangle

Raleigh sits between its two neighbors on most rental measures. Durham has a slightly lower median gross rent, $1,508, and a renter share of 47.7%, with 30.8% of its homes in 5+ unit buildings. Cary is the opposite case: a higher median rent of $1,738 but a renter share of only 33.4% and a median household income of $134,905. Raleigh's 35.0% share of homes in 5+ unit buildings is the highest of the three. For an owner, that means a larger pool of comparable sales and more competing buildings than in either neighbor, and buyers who already own nearby assets are a realistic source of offers.

Property taxes on apartment buildings in Wake County

Under G.S. 105-284, North Carolina assesses all real property at true value, so an apartment building is taxed on 100% of its appraised value with no separate rental class. Wake County's FY2027 adopted budget totals $2,282,021,000 and includes a 2-cent increase that lifts the county rate to 53.71 cents per $100. The City of Raleigh's rate for FY2026-27 is 37.20 cents, up from 35.50 cents the year before, according to the rate tables published by Durham County, which collects for the part of Raleigh inside its borders. Wake County's tax office lists the combined rate inside Raleigh at 90.91 cents. On a building valued at $5 million, that comes to roughly $45,455 a year.

Timing matters more than usual right now. Per Wake County's revaluation page, current values have been effective since January 1, 2024, and the next revaluation takes effect January 1, 2027. The county plans to present results on January 19, 2027, expects owners to start receiving notices by January 22, and has set a planned April 30, 2027 deadline to appeal to the Board of Equalization and Review. After 2027, the county plans to revalue every two years, instead of the eight-year minimum in state law. The county is splitting its roughly 460,000 parcels into 5,400 neighborhoods for the analysis, so value changes will vary by area rather than move uniformly. Tax rates are usually reset after a revaluation, so the new values and the new rates both need to be known before a 2027 tax bill can be estimated.

A sale does not reset the tax value; the buyer takes the county's value until the next revaluation. The state excise tax on the deed under G.S. 105-228.30 is $1 per $500 of price, or $10,000 on a $5 million sale.

Landlord rules and local compliance

Raleigh cannot cap rents. G.S. 42-14.1 bars local rent regulation on private property and, since 2024, bars local rules that would force landlords to accept federal housing vouchers. Security deposits are limited by G.S. 42-51 to 1.5 months' rent for month-to-month tenancies and two months' rent for longer terms. G.S. 42-52 requires an itemized accounting and refund within 30 days of move-out, or an interim accounting at 30 days and a final one within 60 days. Under G.S. 42-55, a landlord who willfully fails to account loses the right to keep any of the deposit and may owe the tenant's attorney fees.

G.S. 160D-1207 prevents Raleigh from requiring rental registration or permits for most properties. The city may impose a program only on properties with repeated verified code violations or high crime and disorder activity, with fees capped at $500 a year.

What this means if you own a building here

• A 2027 sale will be priced on post-revaluation taxes. Watch for your notice in January 2027 and decide whether an appeal is worth filing before the planned April 30 deadline.
• Small buildings compete with a large stock of newer complexes, so documented capital work helps hold value.
• With half of renters cost-burdened, buyers will lean on in-place rents rather than projected growth.

Skyline Capital Investments buys 5+ unit buildings in Raleigh and across Wake County. You can check a value with our apartment building value calculator, test a cap rate with the cap rate calculator, estimate tax on a sale with the capital gains tax calculator, or see how we make offers on the sell your apartment building page.