Houston Rental Properties

  • More than 320,000 new apartments projected to be completed in 2016, a 50% increase compared to 2015
  • Texas leads apartment construction, with more than 69,000 units projected to be delivered in 2016 in the Lone Star State’s 4 largest metros – Houston, DFW, Austin, and San Antonio
  • San Francisco makes great strides to solve housing shortage, bolsters rental inventory by 126% in 2016

The US apartment market is booming in more ways than one. Rental rates are breaking record after record, with the national average at an all-time high of $1,213 in June and occupancy for stabilized and completed properties across the nation reaching 96.1% as of the end of the first quarter of 2016.

Rent in Houston? Buy in Houston?

Forward-looking indicators also saw big year-over-year increases. Total active listings were up 9.9 percent, and single-family pending sales were up 16.7 percent. Single-family inventory increased to 3.8 months in March, up from a 3.5-month supply both the previous month and a year earlier. Months of inventory estimates the number of months it would take to sell all the home listings on the market today based on the pace of sales over the past 12 months. Nationwide, inventory stands at a 3.8-month supply.

Houston Housing in month of May 2016

There were 7,013 single-family homes sold last month, up 11.7 percent from 6,278 in March 2016. Total property sales increased 10.5 percent to 8,495, and the total dollar volume from all sales was up 15.7 percent to $2.27 billion.

The increases in average and median sales prices for single-family homes were less drastic. The average hit $284,279, up 4.6 percent from last year, and the medium was up 5.8 percent to $227,530. Both figures are records for a March in Houston.

All pricing segments saw increases in sales except for homes priced $149,999 and less. Homes priced between $250,000 and $499,999 saw the biggest jump in sales, up 23.1 percent year over year, and those priced at $750,000 and above came in second with a 19 percent increase.