Quick Stats: North Carolina Q3 2026
| Metric | Q3 2026 Data | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Fiber manufacturing | Prysmian committed $1B+ and 385 jobs to its Catawba County campus | Office of the Governor of North Carolina |
| Life sciences | STERIS chose Sanford for a $600M campus with 335 jobs | Office of the Governor of North Carolina |
| Biomanufacturing | Fujifilm’s $3.2B Holly Springs site passed 800 employees on its way to 1,400 by 2031 | Fujifilm |
| Statewide jobs | 51,600 nonfarm jobs added over the year, unemployment 3.6% against 4.1% nationally | N.C. Department of Commerce |
| Charlotte office | Fourth straight quarter of positive absorption, vacancy down to 22.0% | CBRE |
| Raleigh hiring | 2.3% annualized job growth, faster than 99% of U.S. metros | Axios Raleigh |
Q3 at a Glance
North Carolina’s largest Q3 commitments went to manufacturing towns between and around its two big metros. Prysmian announced a $1 billion-plus fiber expansion in Catawba County, STERIS picked Sanford for a $600 million life sciences campus, and Caterpillar followed with a $1 billion plant in the same city. The FDA selected Fujifilm’s Holly Springs biologics site for its PreCheck pilot program, and Fujifilm pulled its expansion forward by six months. In Charlotte, office vacancy fell for a fourth straight quarter and close-in apartment submarkets tightened. Raleigh’s hiring rate ranked among the fastest in the country. Q3 2026 showed the North Carolina multifamily market drawing demand from a wider map than Charlotte and the Triangle cores alone.
The Common Thread
Q3’s factory announcements share a pattern. They went to Claremont, Sanford, Holly Springs and Wilson, smaller cities outside the Charlotte and Raleigh cores. Prysmian’s new jobs will average $60,870 a year against a Catawba County average of $56,937 (Office of the Governor of North Carolina). STERIS’s will average $68,704 against $59,903 in Lee County (Office of the Governor of North Carolina). Above-average wages in smaller counties produce renters who can afford value-add apartments in the surrounding towns.
Statewide numbers were steady, with soft spots. North Carolina added 51,600 nonfarm jobs in the year ending in July, led by professional and business services, construction, and private education and health services (N.C. Department of Commerce). In July alone, the state lost 700 jobs, and manufacturing was down 9,900 over the year (N.C. Department of Commerce). The factories announced in Q3 will take years to hire, and manufacturing payrolls are shrinking today.
Affordability is the pressure point. CNBC ranked North Carolina second overall and first for its economy, but the state fell to 35th for cost of living from 23rd a year earlier (WRAL). A UNC economist quoted in the same coverage said affordability has dropped in all 100 counties since 2000 (WRAL). Rising costs are pushing more working households into rental housing priced below new construction.
$2.6B Combined Q3 manufacturing commitments from Prysmian in Catawba County ($1 billion-plus), STERIS in Sanford ($600 million) and Caterpillar in Sanford ($1 billion). Sources: Office of the Governor of North Carolina, Spectrum News 1
The Markets We Track
Advanced Manufacturing
Prysmian will invest more than $1 billion to expand its fiber and glass manufacturing in Claremont. The project adds 385 jobs, a new glass production facility, and 975,000 square feet of space, and it will double the site’s fiber-optic capacity (Office of the Governor of North Carolina). The company says it is one of three U.S. manufacturers of fiber and optical cables (Office of the Governor of North Carolina).
Caterpillar announced a $1 billion manufacturing facility in Sanford at the end of September to increase production of compact track loaders and telehandlers (Spectrum News 1). The City of Sanford approved about $40 million in incentives and Lee County approved another $46 million. Caterpillar did not give a job count, though it announced 600 more jobs for its Sanford plant earlier in the year (Spectrum News 1).
The state’s Rural Infrastructure Authority approved 11 grants in August tied to 673 jobs and more than $1 billion in private investment (Office of the Governor of North Carolina). The largest supports a Johnson & Johnson expansion in Wilson with 128 jobs and $900 million in investment. In Greensboro, a grant supports Hoffman & Hoffman’s move into a 100,394-square-foot building with 131 jobs (Office of the Governor of North Carolina).
INVESTMENT SIGNAL
Plants in Claremont, Sanford, Wilson and Greensboro pay above their county averages and hire for decades. Renters who take those jobs look for housing in the nearest established towns.
Life Sciences and the Triangle
STERIS will build a 600,000-square-foot manufacturing, R&D and distribution campus in Sanford with $600 million in investment and 335 jobs (Office of the Governor of North Carolina). Fujifilm’s Holly Springs site was named one of seven participants in the FDA’s PreCheck Pilot Program in July (Fujifilm). The $3.2 billion site recently passed 800 employees on its way to a goal of 1,400 by 2031, and Fujifilm moved its capacity expansion up by six months to late fiscal 2027 (Fujifilm).
Raleigh’s job base grew at a 2.3% annualized rate in the six months through May, faster than 99% of U.S. metros, with gains in education and healthcare, professional services and hospitality (Axios Raleigh). The Durham metro, which lost jobs last year after federal research funding cuts, posted gains in the most recent quarter (Axios Raleigh). Home values tell a different story. Raleigh’s Case-Shiller index was down 1% year over year (Axios Raleigh).
INVESTMENT SIGNAL
Biomanufacturing jobs in Holly Springs and Sanford are outside the Triangle’s highest-cost submarkets. Job growth paired with flat home values tends to keep would-be buyers renting a while longer.
Charlotte Office and Talent
Charlotte’s office market posted 456,000 square feet of net absorption in Q3, its fourth straight quarter of gains, and vacancy fell 90 basis points to 22.0% (CBRE). Prime asking rents averaged $61.56 per square foot, up 19.6% year over year (CBRE). Industrial vacancy declined for a seventh consecutive quarter, down 80 basis points from a year earlier (CBRE).
The workforce filling those offices is getting younger. Mecklenburg County’s population of 25- to 34-year-olds grew by nearly 4,600 in a year to about 218,300, per Charlotte Regional Business Alliance data (Axios Charlotte). The age group is about 17% of the county’s population and roughly a third of the workforce in some of its fastest-growing high-skill industries, and Charlotte’s fintech sector employs 12,700 people (Axios Charlotte).
Close-in apartment submarkets are responding. Uptown-South End and Myers Park posted the sharpest vacancy declines in the market over the year ended in March, each down at least 70 basis points (Marcus & Millichap). The Pearl, a life sciences district in Midtown anchored by Wake Forest University’s medical school expansion, is projected to create more than 5,500 on-site jobs (Marcus & Millichap).
INVESTMENT SIGNAL
Nearly 4,600 more 25- to 34-year-olds in Mecklenburg County in one year, four quarters of office absorption and The Pearl’s planned hiring all add demand for apartments within reach of Uptown and South End.
Statewide Economy and Policy
North Carolina’s unemployment rate was 3.6% in July, unchanged from June and 0.3 points lower than a year earlier (N.C. Department of Commerce). Governor Stein traveled to Ireland in September, where state officials noted 48 Irish companies employ more than 7,000 people in North Carolina, and Aer Lingus recently launched year-round nonstop service between Raleigh-Durham and Dublin (Office of the Governor of North Carolina).
Charlotte reached the halfway point of a 150-day moratorium on new data center approvals in August. The moratorium is set to expire November 5, and City Council has weighed extending it by up to 11 months. Projects under construction are unaffected (WFAE).
INVESTMENT SIGNAL
Low unemployment and steady foreign investment support statewide household formation. The data center moratorium is a local land-use question with little direct effect on renter demand.
Submarket Watch
Sanford had the biggest quarter of any North Carolina city. STERIS and Caterpillar together committed $1.6 billion there, and Fujifilm’s Holly Springs site added to the biomanufacturing cluster on the south side of the Triangle. Catawba County, on the western edge of the Charlotte region, took Prysmian’s $1 billion-plus expansion.
Charlotte’s strength was concentrated close in. Office vacancy fell, Uptown-South End and Myers Park apartment vacancy tightened, and The Pearl adds a life sciences employment center in Midtown. Those trends support Charlotte multifamily investment opportunities near the core job nodes. Greensboro added Hoffman & Hoffman’s 131 jobs, a modest gain for Greensboro real estate investments. In the Triangle, Raleigh’s hiring pace and Durham’s stabilizing job count support demand near Chapel Hill real estate investments and the rest of the region.
Investment Outlook
Three dynamics from Q3 are worth tracking into Q4 and 2027.
First, hiring at the new plants. Prysmian, STERIS and Caterpillar all made Q3 commitments, and state payroll data still shows manufacturing employment falling. Hiring announcements in Catawba and Lee counties will show when the plants start to add renters.
The second is Charlotte’s in-migration. Marcus & Millichap expects Charlotte’s apartment recovery to favor close-in submarkets as job growth and in-migration moderate. Q4 vacancy figures will show whether outer submarkets begin to recover or continue to lag.
The third is affordability. North Carolina’s cost-of-living rank fell 12 places in a year. Rising ownership and new-construction costs push households toward existing rental housing, which favors value-add assets priced below new supply.
FAQ: North Carolina Multifamily Market Q3 2026
Which North Carolina cities attracted the most investment in Q3 2026?
Sanford led, with STERIS’s $600 million campus and Caterpillar’s $1 billion plant. Catawba County added Prysmian’s $1 billion-plus fiber expansion, and Holly Springs, Wilson and Greensboro also landed new jobs.
How is the Charlotte office market performing in 2026?
CBRE reports Charlotte posted its fourth straight quarter of positive office absorption in Q3 2026, and vacancy fell to 22.0%. Prime asking rents rose 19.6% year over year.
Is North Carolina job growth slowing in 2026?
North Carolina added 51,600 jobs in the year ending in July, and unemployment was 3.6% versus 4.1% nationally. July itself lost 700 jobs, and manufacturing employment fell 9,900 over the year.
Which Charlotte apartment submarkets are tightening?
Marcus & Millichap reports Uptown-South End and Myers Park posted the sharpest apartment vacancy declines over the year ended in March, each down at least 70 basis points.
How does affordability affect North Carolina multifamily demand?
North Carolina fell to 35th for cost of living in CNBC’s 2026 rankings, down from 23rd. Rising costs keep more households renting and favor apartments priced below new construction.
Conclusion
Q3 2026 sent North Carolina’s largest commitments to manufacturing and life sciences sites around Charlotte and the Triangle. Prysmian, STERIS, Caterpillar and Fujifilm put billions into Catawba County, Sanford and Holly Springs at wages above local averages. Charlotte’s office market and close-in apartments tightened, and Raleigh hired faster than nearly every other metro. Manufacturing payrolls and affordability are the two numbers to watch. The North Carolina multifamily market added employers in more parts of the state in Q3, and the renters who follow them will need housing in the towns around those plants.
Details on Charlotte multifamily investments are available at rise48equity.com/location/north-carolina/charlotte/, with statewide coverage on the North Carolina multifamily page.
All citations link to the original source pages, verified by a full read in October 2026.
About Rise48 Equity:
Rise48 Equity is a multifamily investment group with assets in Phoenix, AZ; Dallas-Fort Worth, TX; Charlotte, NC; Raleigh, NC; Durham, NC; and Chapel Hill, NC. The firm focuses on acquiring, repositioning, and operating value-add multifamily communities through a vertically integrated platform.
