RALEIGH, N.C. (WNCN) – Rent prices in the Raleigh metro continue increasing, according to a recently released report from Zillow. While the monthly price of apartments has increased, the rate of rent hikes has significantly dipped in years past.

As the Triangle’s population continues growing, so do rent prices. Zillow’s recently released July rental report shows the average apartment in the metro costs nearly $1,850 a month.

That’s a 2% increase, or roughly $40 more than last year, and is around 0.5% higher than last month.

“It’s picked up quite a bit. I mean just in the last couple of years, it’s booming at this point,” said Kamron Lusk, a local real estate broker.

While rent has increased 2% year-over-year, Zillow data shows rent in the Triangle jumped more than 14% from July 2021 to July 2022.

Experts say new construction is a big factor slowing increases, “We’ve had fairly good construction of rental units in the Raleigh area, so bottom line, I do think the rental picture, in terms of rent increases, will be much more moderate,” said Michael Walden, an economics professor at N.C. State University.

But not everyone is as optimistic.

“The current Census data shows thousands of people moving to the Triangle every month. While we have a huge influx of building permits, we’re putting up homes pretty quickly, but we just can’t keep up with demand,” Lusk said.

With as tumultuous and unpredictable rent prices can be, Lusk says he encourages everyone to have a plan in place to eventually exit the rental market into the housing market, stating that mortgage payments will remain consistent compared to rent.

Another reason rent could start increasing more than it has recently is the number of people leaving their homes in favor of rentals.

“We have a surge of people coming from the ownership market, people have been priced out of buying homes because of high-interest rates, and moving into rental market, that’ll add more demand. But still, overall, I’m looking for low single-digit increases in rents going forward,” Walden explained.

Walden says other factors, like cooling inflation, should also keep rent prices at a more moderate increase.