Wilmington

Wilmington is a high demand coastal market, seeing $520 million in annual sales in 2022. This continued demand is driven by the areas affordability and recreational amenities. The vacancy levels remain low, 9.5%. Wilmington has 1,300 units expected in late 2023 and early 2024 with the expectation that new units will taper off after that. Wilmington has come to the attention of outside investors due to the increase of newer units, pushing per unit prices up. The current rent per unit averages at $1,460 a price point that is $256 below the national average.

The highest rent growth for Wilmington has been in the mid-end properties increasing at 5.8% annually. With the higher end properties seeing slower growth due to the increase of newer units. Pender County has been a largely rural submarket but is now seeing strong rent growth due to the new units coming to the market.

Cap Rates in this market have been below 4.86% for the class C properties and down to 4.59% for the new and class A properties.