North Carolinians are spending a larger portion of their income on rent and a recent slowdown in prices has not changed much, according to a new report.

Research from the Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies found rental increases are hovering near zero nationwide, despite major increases in the post-pandemic years. Prices at professionally managed apartment complexes declined by a little more than 0.5%. But more renters – including those with high income – are now more rent-burdened than ever before.

Whitney Airgood-Obrycki, senior research associate at the center, said rents have far outpaced incomes over the past couple of decades.

"Rents and utilities have often risen much faster than household incomes," Airgood-Obrycki pointed out. "Even when we’re seeing flat rents or slightly declining rents, that doesn’t necessarily mean that incomes are moving in the same way at all those times. So people may have lower wages, higher unemployment."

North Carolina incomes have grown only 6% since 2001, compared to rental costs, which have grown by 30% over the same period.

More than half of renters in areas like the Research Triangle, Greensboro and Winston-Salem are rent-burdened. In the Charlotte metro, the number is well above 40% of renters. Airgood-Obrycki noted North Carolinians have the lowest amount of money to work with each month after paying their rent and utility bills.

"We look at a metric we call ‘the residual income,’ and that’s the amount that households have left over after they pay rent and utilities each month," Airgood-Obrycki outlined. "For lower-income households, that fell to a record low of just $210 in 2024. So we’re seeing really challenging conditions, but we are seeing some improvement."

Renters in smaller communities outside of the major metro areas in the Tar Heel State also face heavy burdens, with more than a third of renters being rent-burdened.

Source: Public News Service