Investors now own 35% of all rental units in Raleigh. Where, who and what it means.
Private equity firms now own more than 41,000 apartments — or about 35% of total units — in Raleigh-Cary.
That’s according to new data from the Private Equity Stakeholder Project, (PESP) a nonprofit financial watchdog. It’s also the highest percentage in the U.S., part of a growing trend amid a post-pandemic construction boom and housing affordability crisis.
“In recent years, investment companies have capitalized on rising housing demand and limited supply by purchasing large volumes of single-family homes, apartment complexes and manufactured housing communities,” the report said. “This has exacerbated housing affordability issues, displacing local communities through large rent hikes and aggressive evictions.”
The “Raleigh-Cary” metro analyzed includes Apex, Wendell and Wake Forest, but not Chapel Hill or Durham.
Nationwide, 121 firms owned at least 8,200 apartment buildings and over 2.2 million units in 2023, the report said. That’s about 10% of all apartments in the country. (The project previously released separate reports tracking the impact of private-equity firms on the single-family rental market and manufactured homes.)
More than half of those apartments are in five Sunbelt states — North Carolina, Texas, Florida, California and Georgia — and almost two-thirds (62%) were acquired since 2018.
Most of those states also saw the largest population growth in the U.S. from 2020 to 2024. Some, like North Carolina and Florida, also have the “weakest tenant protections,” the report noted.
In North Carolina, private equity firms now 132,616 apartments — “one in every five” — the report said.
Big holdings, big controversy
New York-based Blackstone, one of the largest private equity firms in the world with over $1 trillion in assets, holds the largest stake “by far” in the U.S., the report said. But it also lists other big names like Charleston-based Greystar and Atlanta-based Cortland.
All three companies have significant holdings in the Triangle. Examples include Greystar’s Morgan Reserve Apartments and Notting Hill in Chapel Hill, Cortland at RTP and Cortland Olde Raleigh, and Blackstone’s Adara Alexander Place in Raleigh.
They’ve also been accused of collusion and illegally setting rents.
In January, Attorney General Jeff Jackson sued Blackstone’s LivCor, Cortland, Greystar and three other landlords, accusing them of illegally working together with the software company RealPage. Using RealPage’s algorithm, the lawsuit alleges, the companies “sidestepped” market competition and were able to set rents artificially high for approximately a third of all one- and two-bedroom apartments in Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill and Charlotte.
This Tuesday, Cortland settled. Jackson said the case against the five other landlords and RealPage continues.
‘Displacing local communities’
The rise in private equity-owned apartments is exacerbating affordability issues, say housing advocates. It’s also displacing local communities through “large rent hikes and aggressive evictions.”
Many metros with the largest concentration of private equity-owned apartments are also those that have seen the largest increases in renters who are “cost burdened,” data showed. In other words, they’re spending more than 30% of their income on rent and utilities.
That’s the reality for some 120,490 households — which is 27% of all Wake County households and 47% of renters — according to N.C. Housing Coalition’s latest data.
“Right now, predatory private equity landlords can take advantage of North Carolina’s lack of tenant protections to dramatically raise rents, charge exorbitant fees and evict tenants without cause,” said Nick MacLeod, executive director of the North Carolina Tenants Union. “The state’s tenant law must be strengthened.”
Meanwhile, the buyouts keep happening.
Cortland recently purchased Peace Street apartments from Kane Realty Corp. in downtown’s Smoky Hollow district for $152 million, the Triangle Business Journal reported. Completed in 2020, the 12-story building is now rebranded Cortland Glenwood South with new, bright signage around Peace Street and Capital Boulevard.
The firm now owns 10 apartment buildings across the greater Triangle.
Stephanie Watkins-Cruz, director of housing policy at the NC Housing Coalition, said private-equity investors have always been part of the market. “It’s not a new dynamic,” she said. But it picked up during the pandemic and is now hitting new levels. “It’s not sprinkled in here and there. In some areas, it’s almost 50% owned by private equity.”
“It starts to tip the scale,” she added. “It removes opportunities from people who may have the capital but can’t move as quickly. [They’re] swooping in and accessing the supply before anyone else can. It adds fuel to the fire.”
This story was originally published April 21, 2025 at 5:00 AM with the headline "Investors now own 35% of all rental units in Raleigh. Where, who and what it means.."
