Economic gains are rallying rents in Raleigh, N.C.

The greater Raleigh, N.C., market appears to be getting back on its feet again, which is good news for rental property owners.

Driven by the growth of government expansion and technology companies, the Raleigh-Durham area added 14,400 new jobs in the first half of this year, representing a 1.8% increase over the same period a year earlier, according to a report on the website Commercial Property Executive.

Equally important, the market’s median household income increased by 4.4% to $59,030.

These gains have been a positive impetus for new apartment construction and what owners can charge renters, albeit somewhat counter-intuitively. The number of apartments available has been falling since late 2013. However, completions of new apartments exceed demand, and multifamily permits have increased by 15% since the beginning of the year to an annualized rate of 7,540.

Still, the average monthly rent in the Raleigh-Cary area is up 1.2%, according to new research by Axiometrics. “Job growth continues to be strong, and new household formation is resulting in the absorption of new units,” Jay Denton, Axiometrics’ senior vice president of research and analytics, told the Triangle Business Journal.

The average rents for apartment communities open at least a year was $920 per month in the third quarter, compared to $899 in the same quarter in 2013, according to Axiometrics.

Before you get your shorts in a knot, I have nothing against science, technology, engineering, or even mathematics; to the contrary, I love all four “STEM” disciplines (I’m lying about the math). But I question whether we need to be building K-12 schools that overly emphasize or are totally devoted to STEM.

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