The story of this market
The typical home in Durham, North Carolina sells for about $424,769, or $226 per square foot.
Prices are down 1.2% from a year ago, which gives buyers more room to negotiate. Homes take about 28 days to sell, which is fast. HUD's fair market rent for a two-bedroom is $1,650 a month.
Monthly price momentum
Home values since 2015
+2.7%
NC · past 12 months
Freddie Mac House Price Index, single-family homes, monthly through 2026-08. Each line starts at 100 in January 2015, so a reading of 180 means prices are up 80% since then.
Durham, North Carolina
The Durham housing market exhibits stable, balanced fundamentals with a median sale price of approximately $424,769, down 1.2% year-over-year. Sales volume is up over 13% while homes average 28 days on the market, indicating steady buyer demand against balanced inventory. Sustained employment generation across life sciences and tech supports long-term property values despite interest rate and price-cut pressures.
No ARED county foreclosure postings attributed to Durham yet — the verified ledger covers every county the foreclosure ingest has read, attributed by published city area. Key-figure check: no independent anchor retained yet — first-researched cycles establish the anchor baseline this pass.
Deterministic aggregate of 7 researched ZIP reports — sales_count-weighted (population fallback); per point, children lacking the value or its weight are excluded. Tax rates, sentiment and context notes are tier-native and never roll.
Median prices moved down 0.1% year over year.
Homes spend a median of 45 days on market with 0.3 months of supply — a fast-moving market.
1% of listings have cut prices · homes sell at 99% of asking — demand is running ahead of supply.
no recorded foreclosure-ledger notices (0.0 per 10,000 residents) · unemployment 3.8% · poverty 11.7% — a stable, low-distress profile.
- Frankie's of Raleigh4.47.9 mi
- Dave & Buster's Cary417.3 mi
- Happy Feet Planet Apex4.719.7 mi
- Urban Air Trampoline and Adventure Park4.111.6 mi
- RushHour Karting4.511.6 mi
- Lenovo Center4.516.6 mi
- North Carolina Museum of Art4.816.9 mi
- North Carolina State Fair4.417.3 mi
- Atlantic Union Bank Convention Center4.621.1 mi
- Topgolf3.88.8 mi
- Sarah P. Duke Gardens4.91.8 mi
- Museum of Life and Science4.72.3 mi
- Frankie's of Raleigh4.47.9 mi
- AMC Southpoint 173.96.7 mi
- Cinemark Bistro Raleigh4.513.4 mi
- North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences4.820.8 mi
- North Carolina Museum of Art4.816.9 mi
- Museum of Life and Science4.72.3 mi
- Marbles Kids Museum4.821.1 mi
- Duke University Chapel4.92.3 mi
- Sarah P. Duke Gardens4.91.8 mi
- William B. Umstead State Park4.811.1 mi
- Thomas Brooks Park4.713.9 mi
- Lake Crabtree County Park4.712 mi
- Falls Lake State Recreation Area4.711.4 mi
- Topgolf3.88.8 mi
- Prestonwood Country Club4.714.3 mi
- Hillandale Golf Course4.32.8 mi
- Falls Village Golf Club3.47 mi
- Golf Galaxy4.310.3 mi
- H Mart Cary4.614.6 mi
- The Streets at Southpoint4.56.7 mi
- Harris Teeter4.41.7 mi
- Fresh International Market - Raleigh4.49 mi
- Raleigh-Durham International Airport4.410.3 mi
Theme parks, venues, golf, airports, museums, water and shopping across the area from Google Maps, ranked by popularity within the radius shown.
The amenity base that shapes daily life and property demand in this city — what residents actually live with, and what the pipeline is adding.
A 55-acre world-class public botanical garden on the Duke campus, drawing over 400,000 visitors annually and serving as a major community landmark.
A 2,700-seat theater consistently ranked among the top theatrical venues nationwide for touring Broadway productions and concerts.
Iconic 10,000-seat downtown ballpark housing the Triple-A Durham Bulls, driving substantial game-day retail and restaurant foot traffic.
Spanning over 4,000 acres along the Eno River, offering 28 miles of hiking trails, paddling, and preserved green space on the city's northern edge.
A revitalized historic cigarette manufacturing complex featuring open-air event spaces, restaurants, breweries, and technology offices.
Durham appeals strongly to life-sciences and technology professionals, healthcare workers, academic faculty, and young families seeking an energetic urban culture at a price point moderately more accessible than neighbor Cary or Raleigh. Real estate investors find stable demand in proximity to Duke University and RTP, though careful neighborhood selection is essential.
Durham Public Schools presents significant variance in individual campus performance across state evaluation metrics, with top-tier suburban magnet and elementary campuses contrasting with challenged urban schools. Nontraditional and magnet offerings such as Durham School of the Arts and specialized STEM academies see persistent waitlists and strong local support.
The city is traversed by major corridors including Interstate 85, Interstate 40, and NC 147 (Durham Freeway), which connect residents across the Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill metropolitan triangle. Local bus transit is operated by GoDurham, with regional connections facilitated by GoTriangle. The regional Raleigh-Durham International Airport (RDU) sits immediately adjacent to southeastern Durham, offering comprehensive national and transatlantic flights.
Durham offers an established recreational amenity network highlighted by the American Tobacco Trail, Eno River State Park, and the Sarah P. Duke Gardens. Urban entertainment anchors include the Durham Bulls Athletic Park, the Durham Performing Arts Center (DPAC), and a nationally celebrated culinary and microbrewery scene in the historic warehouse district.
The city maintains a deep rental market supported by Duke graduate students, university staff, healthcare personnel, and tech workers relocating to Research Triangle Park. Recent additions of institutional multifamily deliveries have moderated rent appreciation, fostering healthy absorption alongside heightened competition among Class A suburban and urban communities.
Durham's economy is anchored by Duke University and Duke University Health System, alongside world-renowned research, pharmaceutical, and technology enterprises situated in Research Triangle Park. The region benefits from robust venture capital investment, academic research commercialization, and rapid growth in biotechnology and clinical manufacturing. Unemployment remains stable near the national average, supported by a highly educated local workforce.
Anchored by Duke University, Duke Health, and adjacent Research Triangle Park (RTP), Durham maintains steady economic momentum powered by life sciences, biotechnology, and software engineering. Heavy ongoing redevelopment across the Downtown Durham core, American Tobacco Campus, and peripheral suburban master-planned developments sustains active job creation and steady corporate investment.
Municipal planning focuses heavily on expanding affordable housing initiatives, managing infill density within urban rings, and upgrading transit connectivity. Major commercial and lab infrastructure developments continue to transform former industrial zones surrounding Downtown Durham, while master-planned residential communities expand into the southern and eastern periphery of Durham County.
Parcels in Durham are generally subject to combined municipal and county millage rates without typical Texas-style MUDs, though properties within defined Downtown Improvement or municipal service districts may incur dedicated overlay assessments for downtown maintenance and security. The Durham County Board of Commissioners and Durham City Council determine primary millage assessments.
Durham's violent and property crime rates trend higher than the statewide North Carolina baseline, with incident concentration historically observed in eastern and central urban neighborhoods. The city continues targeted community policing and violence-interruption initiatives, and overall regional comparisons place it on par with peer urban core areas across the Piedmont Crescent.
Durham carries low overall wildfire exposure and moderate inland localized storm and flash flooding risks along the Eno River basin and Ellerbe Creek tributaries. Tropical moisture remnants can create stormwater runoff challenges, but the inland Piedmont location shelters the area from major coastal storm surge and catastrophic hurricane-force winds.
Property insurance markets in North Carolina remain reasonably stable compared to coastal states, although recent statewide rate revision filings by the North Carolina Rate Bureau have pressured residential premium rates upward. Inland Piedmont locations like Durham experience lower catastrophe risk premiums than coastal counties, though severe convective storm and hail events factor into annual underwriting.
Parcels inside the municipal limits are subject to combined Durham County and City of Durham ad valorem property taxes, assessed against 100% of appraised fair market value. North Carolina operates on an octennial reappraisal cycle with county-wide property reappraisals, alongside standard statutory exemptions for homesteads, disabled veterans, and qualifying agricultural lands.
ACS 2024 5-year estimates. Aggregate published statistics for this city — never individual records, and never an attribute of any individual property or resident.
Researched annual trajectory for this city, from published historical series
Solid: researched ten-year history · dotted: 1 / 3 / 5-year projection extended from the historical 9.0%/yr trend — a deterministic estimate, not a published forecast or guarantee.
Median annual property tax paid on this city's residential parcels
Solid: researched ten-year history · dotted: 1 / 3 / 5-year projection extended from the historical 7.2%/yr trend — a deterministic estimate, not a published forecast or guarantee.
Retrieved from US Census Bureau QuickFacts and ACS Profile estimates for Durham city, NC.
Public schools whose reported address is in this area (NCES). Not attendance boundaries — schools that serve residents may sit outside it. Check the district's address locator for assignment.