Austin Rents Fall as Apartment Construction Accelerates

A report from Realtor.com reveals that Austin, Texas was one of the three U.S. cities with the most dramatic drops in rent prices in November 2023 compared to the same month in the previous year. Shonda Novak explains the report’s findings in the Austin American-Statesman.

After hitting record highs in 2022, “Earlier this year, local housing experts predicted that 2023 would bring some relief for renters due to slower job growth — mainly in the tech sector — and a tide of new apartment supply that was expected to exceed demand.” However, Austin rents are still around 25 percent more expensive, on average, than in 2019.

Experts expect rents to continue to decline as more multifamily construction makes its way onto the rental market. “Multifamily (new construction) completions, the vast majority of which are used for rentals, picked up 16.1% year over year in the Austin metro area year to date (January-October).”