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Balanced

Durham-Chapel Hill, NC

This market needs sharper assumptions before it earns deeper attention. In the latest Zillow Research data, home values have softened while rents are still moving up.

Last updated 2026-07-31

F33/100
High-caution marketF grade · 33/100 market scoreOnly worth deeper work when the specific deal is clearly better than the market average.

Durham-Chapel Hill, NC is more interesting because basis has softened while rents are holding up better. That can create better screening conditions than the headline market mood suggests.

Analyze a property in this marketBack to marketsAverage deal analysis in Durham

Average deal benchmark

Average deal in this market

This is the quick market-level baseline for what a typical deal looks like before you underwrite a real address.

Typical priceVerified
$411,325Typical market home value
Typical rentVerified
$1,660Average monthly rent
Rent-to-valueEstimated
4.84%Gross annual rent divided by home value
1-year rent trendVerified
+0.7%Recent rent direction

Verified metrics come from sourced market files. Estimated metrics are derived from those inputs.

Strategy fit

What's working in this market

Durham-Chapel Hill, NC is classified as a balanced market, but the overall score of 33/100 points to higher caution for investors. The typical home value is $411,325, while average rent is $1,660, producing rent-to-value strength of 4.84%. That suggests rents provide some support, but not enough to make this look like an especially strong cash-flow market on the numbers alone.

The market is also showing mild softness in values, with a 1-year home value change of -2.1%, while rents are nearly flat at +0.7% over the same period. The price-vs-rent pressure of -2.8% points to some relative improvement for investors compared with prices, but the modest rent trend and higher caution score mean underwriting needs to be conservative.

Which strategy this favors

This market currently favors cautious buy-and-hold investors more than aggressive BRRRR or flip strategies, because the data shows rent support through a 4.84% rent-to-value figure and average rent of $1,660, but also a higher-caution 33/100 score and a -2.1% home value trend. House-hacking may also fit when an owner-occupant can reduce personal housing costs, but pure flips look less supported by the current negative home value change.

Generated from this market's real Zillow-backed metrics only — not a recommendation, and not informed by facts about the city beyond the numbers shown above.

County snapshot

Local context inside the market

These counties add local context after the market screen. Use them to see where conditions look stronger or weaker before you underwrite a specific address.

Leaflet © OpenStreetMap contributors

Durham County · 39/100

Home value: $396,360Average rent: $1,665Rent-to-value: 5.04%

Chatham County · 29/100

Home value: $565,381Average rent: $2,009Rent-to-value: 4.27%

Orange County · 16/100

Home value: $508,867Average rent: $1,607Rent-to-value: 3.79%

Sourced metrics

What the sourced market data says

Rating breakdown

How the screening score is built

Rent-to-value strength50% weight
4.84%Higher rent-to-value ratios improve the first-pass screen.
1-year rent trend25% weight
+0.7%Positive rent growth improves the score.
Price-vs-rent pressure25% weight
-2.8%When home values run ahead of rents, the score gets penalized.

Underwriting

What this means for deal analysis

  • Use the market average as a screening shortcut, not a recommendation.
  • Watch for listings where softer pricing is giving you better rent support than the metro headline implies.
  • Do not turn market averages into cap-rate claims without real taxes, insurance, management, and repair assumptions.
Verify before you buy

Market averages are a screen, not a verdict

  • Validate listing-level rent comps before trusting the market average.
  • Run financing and reserve assumptions with enough margin to survive a worse-than-average deal.
  • Check whether the target county is outperforming or lagging the broader market before you bid.
Methodology

How this page is built

  • Numeric market metrics are pulled from Zillow Research metro files at build time, not copied by hand.
  • County context uses Zillow Research county files plus Census TIGERweb county polygons so the local snapshot maps to real boundaries.
  • The overall market score is a transparent screening heuristic built from rent-to-value, 1-year rent trend, and price-vs-rent pressure.
  • Unsupported metrics such as days-to-pending are intentionally removed instead of scraped or inferred.

Zillow Research ZHVI metro file

Metro home values as of 2026-07-31.

Open sourceAccessed 2026-09-15

Zillow Research ZORI metro file

Metro rents as of 2026-07-31.

Open sourceAccessed 2026-09-15

Zillow Research ZHVI county file

County home values used for the supporting county snapshot.

Open sourceAccessed 2026-09-15

Zillow Research ZORI county file

County rents used for the supporting county snapshot.

Open sourceAccessed 2026-09-15

Census TIGERweb county polygons

Official county boundaries used to render the city-level map footprint.

Open sourceAccessed 2026-09-15

Zillow research definitions

Reference definitions for Zillow housing and rent market metrics.

Open sourceAccessed 2026-09-15
FAQ

Common questions

Why does this page show a score at all?

The market score is a transparent screening heuristic built from Zillow Research home-value, rent-trend, and rent-to-value inputs. It is not a buy recommendation or a substitute for address-level underwriting.

What do the county snapshots represent?

The page shows county-level snapshots inside the market footprint so you can see where conditions look stronger or weaker. Treat them as supporting context, not automatic buy boxes.

What should I do after reading this page?

Use the page to decide whether the market deserves deeper attention, then run a real property-level analysis inside InstantlyAnalyze before making an offer.