"It's been a hot market, but it started to become overbuilt last fall and it's going to take a year or two for all the new apartments to be absorbed," says Mac Alexander, senior vice president of CR Richard Ellis, a veteran of 20 years experience in the multifamily sector. "I think the market has peaked and rents are going to get a little softer."

There are about 70,000 apartments units in the area with 5,000 more currently under construction and due to be completed this year. Last year, 4,600 units were built.

The apartment re-sell market remains active, says Alexander, who recently brokered the 354-unit Foxfire apartment community located on a 47-acre tract in Durham.

Built in 1974, the complex at 1400 Wyldewood Rd was sold for $14.15 million by Shelter Properties of Denver, CO to Lane Realty Advisors of Atlanta. That works out to a cost of $39,900 per unit. The occupancy rate at Foxfire at sale time was 95%. Alexander describes the complex as a "basic middle of the road apartment in a mix of blue collar and white collar neighborhoods."

Though Alexander predicts apartment building will decline, "we've still got plenty of activity on the selling site," he tells GlobeSt.com. "The Triangle is a very popular market for investors because of the strong economy and the strong job formation there."

Prices also seem to have kept up. Alexander is closing soon on a 1970s-vintage complex that will get a price of $46,000 a unit. Another 336-unit property closing in Greensboro soon is drawing a price tag of $59,000 a unit.

A seller's market for apartments has existed since about 1993, Alexander says. "I would say that currently things are shifting to put the market more in equilibrium."