Renting an apartment in the Piedmont Triad grew more challenging last year as
housing demand grew amid a slowdown in construction, according to a
nationwide apartment rental website.
“Rental competition has become even tighter,’’ RentCafe said in its year-end
report stating that new apartment construction grew by 1.3% in the Greensboro,
High Point, Winston-Salem market last year, roughly half the pace as in 2023. The
market “is facing a severe housing shortage as demand continues to grow.”
Nationally, the Piedmont Triad trailed only Louisville, Kentucky, as the fastest-growing market for renters, according to RentCafe’s rental competitiveness index
(RCI) for the central North Carolina market. The index grew by 8.6 points in the
last year to 73.2 at the end of 2024.
Despite the increase, the Piedmont Triad trailed the national RCI score of 74.4, a
measure reflecting “a highly competitive rental market, with more renters staying
put compared to 2023,’’ according to research from RentCafe, based in Santa
Barbara, California.
The Triad economy is benefiting from Toyota’s $13.9 billion electric battery plant in adjoining Randolph County. More than 1,300 workers are on the job at the site 20 miles south of downtown Greensboro, with production expected to start later this year. Toyota says it expects to employ more than 5,000 there.
Competition for apartments also tightened in Charlotte where more than six in 10
renters stayed put despite a nearly 5% increase in the supply of apartments, RentCafe said.
Charlotte’s RCI increased to 69.4 last year from 67.7 in 2023. Even though
occupancy slipped slightly to 92.4% year over year, the website said, “Charlotte’s
market remained very tight, with 8 prospective renters competing for the
same available unit — just 1 person less than the national average of 9.’’
Nationally, RentCafe said, “many renters opt to stay put to avoid the hassle that
comes with increased competition, while those who are actively looking for an
apartment need to act swiftly to secure an apartment that fits their needs.’’
It added that “the combination of the high prices of buying a home, mortgage
rates and cost of living often keeps would-be buyers in the rental market longer,
further fueling the competition for apartments.’’
