Five Points, Raleigh, NC

What Five Points is actually like

Five Points takes its name from the intersection of five streets around which several "second wave" residential developments were platted in the 1910s and 1920s as Raleigh expanded beyond its original downtown grid: Hayes Barton, Bloomsbury, Georgetown, Vanguard Park, and Roanoke Park. The result is one of Raleigh's most walkable neighborhoods, built around a real commercial node rather than a car-oriented shopping center (Wikipedia).

Five Points also has a specific social history worth stating directly: it was historically one of Raleigh's "gay villages," home to LGBT-friendly bars near the Rialto Theater dating from the 1950s through the 1970s, and rainbow flags still fly in the area today (Wikipedia). The commercial crossroads itself is anchored by the Rialto, a historic single-screen cinema, plus a cluster of long-running local restaurants and shops, while the surrounding Hayes Barton and Bloomsbury districts, both listed on the National Register of Historic Places, are known for well-preserved 1920s architecture and mature tree canopy.

Today, Five Points functions as Raleigh's original walkable commercial node: most of the housing stock surrounding it is still the original 1910s-1930s single-family construction, and the district commands a real premium over the city as a whole for exactly that reason -- well-preserved century-old bungalows and Colonial Revivals on a walkable street grid close to downtown.

Home values in Five Points

Redfin's data puts Five Points' median sale price at $994,654 as of June 2026, up 15.7% year-over-year, with a median 29 days on market. Price per square foot actually fell 12% year-over-year to $417 -- a sign of smaller homes selling during that window, not an underlying price decline (Redfin). No Five Points-specific rent data was found; Raleigh's citywide average rent runs around $1,588 a month for general context, though that citywide figure isn't specific to this neighborhood's older, mostly-owner-occupied housing stock.

Getting around

Five Points is one of Raleigh's most walkable neighborhoods by reputation and design -- it grew up around a real commercial crossroads rather than a car-oriented shopping center, and the surrounding Hayes Barton and Bloomsbury streets are dense, gridded, and tree-lined. GoRaleigh local buses run along the Glenwood Avenue and Fairview/Whitaker Mill Road corridors, but there's no light rail, subway, or commuter rail anywhere in the Triangle, so trips beyond the immediate area still typically mean a car.

Five Points FAQ