Austin’s apartment rent growth slows as vacancy rises

Bad news is your rent is probably going up.

Good news is your rent is going up slower than it has in a while.

Austin’s annual rents increased just under 1 percent in the third quarter, down from a 5.6 percent increase in the third quarter 2007. The apartment vacancy rate has increased from 5 percent to 6 percent in the last year. Meanwhile, developers are delivering 8,000 new units this year. This all means that in the immediate future supply will continue to exceed demand.

The significant inventory of unsold houses and condos also puts pressure on housing prices and makes it more difficult for apartments to raise rents. Efforts by the federal government to instill confidence in the housing market will likely lead to even more renters being pulled out of apartments to occupy homes.

This would be the time to push for concessions if your lease is about to come up for renewal.

The complete report is here.