Each month, I pull together the numbers that actually matter if you're buying, selling, or just keeping an eye on the Triangle — and translate them out of agent-speak. Here's where Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill, and the surrounding area stood as May 2026 wrapped up.
The headline: a market finding its balance
May confirmed a trend that's been building for months — the Triangle is shifting from the seller-favored frenzy of recent years into something closer to a balanced market. That shows up in three numbers worth knowing:
- Inventory across Wake County is up roughly 20% year-over-year, giving buyers meaningfully more to choose from than they had in 2024 or 2025.
- Days on market are now averaging north of 40 days — a sharp change from the under-a-week timelines that defined the 2021–2022 boom.
- List-to-sale ratio sits around 98%, meaning homes are still selling close to asking — but routine bidding wars 5–10% over list have largely cooled.
Put together, that's roughly four months of supply — the range agents generally consider "balanced": not so tight that buyers are desperate, not so loose that sellers are stuck.
Prices: still moving, just not sprinting
Home values across the Triangle continue to edge upward, but at a noticeably gentler pace than the double-digit jumps of a few years back. Wake County's median sits in the mid-$400,000s, with real variation by city — Durham trending more affordable in the high-$300,000s, Cary running well above the county median given consistent demand, and close-in Raleigh neighborhoods commanding a premium over the county-wide number. The takeaway: "the Triangle market" isn't one number. Where you're looking matters as much as when.
City-by-city snapshot
- Raleigh: Steady demand citywide, with the widest price range of any Triangle market — from emerging areas in the southeast to premium pockets like North Hills and Five Points.
- Durham: Continues to offer some of the more accessible entry points in the Triangle, with strong interest near Duke, downtown, and the revitalized warehouse district.
- Cary: Consistently one of the higher-demand, higher-price markets in the area — strong schools and walkable town-center development keep it competitive even as the broader market cools.
- Chapel Hill / Carrboro: A smaller, tighter market shaped heavily by university demand — inventory here tends to move differently than the rest of the Triangle.
What this means if you're buying
You have room to breathe. More listings to compare, more time to schedule a second showing, and more leverage to ask for an inspection or a small concession without feeling like you'll lose the house over it. That said — well-priced homes in sought-after pockets are still moving briskly. "Balanced" doesn't mean "slow everywhere."
What this means if you're selling
Your buyer pool is still healthy, but they're more selective than they were two years ago, and they're comparing your home against more alternatives than before. Pricing accurately from day one — based on what's actually closing nearby, not what the market was doing last spring — matters more now than it has in years. Homes that debut at the right number are still drawing strong interest fast; homes that debut too high are sitting, then chasing the market down.
What the county-wide numbers don't show you
Averages are useful for spotting trends — they're far less useful for answering "what's my home worth" or "what will it actually take to win this house." Two homes ten minutes apart can be in completely different micro-markets depending on the school zone, the HOA, or simply how many similar homes sold there in the last 90 days. That's the layer county and city averages can't give you, and it's the layer that actually matters when real money is on the line.
Heading into summer
Expect inventory to keep climbing seasonally through June and July as more sellers list for the back half of the year, and watch mortgage rates — even small movements there ripple through both how many buyers are active and how much home they can afford. If you want a number specific to your street, your situation, or the home you're picturing — that's a much better conversation than a county-wide average, and I'm always happy to have it.
