North Carolina's rental prices are rising faster than the national average.

Since 2021, rent prices have increased by 20% in North Carolina compared to the national average of 16%, a recent report from ABC11 News said.

"The increase in rental prices is tied to the increase in home prices," North Carolina State University economist Michael Walden told ABC11 News in the report. "They're really two parts of the same market. When home prices skyrocket, which they have been doing, many people are priced out of that market, so obviously they have to go into the rental market."

Multiple areas in the state felt an additional 10% increase in the last six months alone. Although many areas experienced larger increases, Fayetteville received the smallest increase at 3%.

Walden said that prices are unlikely to drop any time soon as the state is experiencing economic growth and skyrocketing inflation.

"As long as North Carolina is a growing state and particularly the metro areas are growing, this is going to be a problem," Walden said in the report. "It's going to be a problem because housing is tied to land and in any given metro area, there's only so much land, specifically the land that people want to occupy."