Austin apartments get some bailout money

From the Austin City Council that is.

The Austin City Council agreed to use $710,350 in bond money to lower some rents at an apartment project planned for South Austin. The city has invested about $800,000 into the project. They also gave the developer, Post Properties, a public street, valued at close to $300,000.

In April 2007, the council agreed to use bond money (and $397,000 in waived fees for infrastructure and engineering costs) to "buy down" the rent of 30 apartments to about $666 . The council said they wanted to see lower-cost housing dispersed citywide and not just relegated to East Austin.

Then this summer, Post asked for $800,000 more, saying it couldn't lower the rents without it. In negotiations, Post backed off that request and asked instead that the city waive provisions about tenants' rights and Section 8 clients, city Housing Director Margaret Shaw said.

The apartment project will replace the older, low-rent Stoneridge apartment complex on South Lamar Boulevard. It used to cost about $600 per month to live at the Stoneridge Apartments, what many consider the last affordable apartment complex near downtown.

Original Story

All in all, seems like a good deal for the developers. If the waivers are permanent, I don't think there is anything stopping them from asking for more money later and saying they will have to raise rents if they don't get it.

It is not known when the project will be completed. So at the end of the day, the city has spent a million dollars to get 30 lower than market apartments at some undefined time in the future. Good deal if you can get it.

Tired of people from California....Here come the New Yorkers

The New York Times has an article recommending downtown Austin as an 'appealing second home location.'

This may not be cause a mad rush from the Empire State, and may not do too much to counteract the overbuilding going on downtown, but it almost definitely means the efforts to Keep Austin Weird will get more and more difficult.

Gables Great Hills sold to Greystar Real Estate

Gables Great Hills has been sold by Gables Residential to Greystar Real Estate in South Carolina.

Built in 1993, Gables Great Hills has a unit mix of one and two-bedroom apartments.

Patton Jones, who helped broker the deal, said "Mid-1990s construction is popular with multifamily investors due to the ease at which you can upgrade this property type and seek increased rents."

Gables Great Hills is located at 11266 Taylor Draper Ln. in the Arboretum area.

It will be interesting to see if they can really raise rents in this environment.

Statesman confirms: Its a good time to rent in Austin

Our regular readers already know that Austin apartment occupancy is down and rent is not growing very quickly.

A few days later, the Statesmen said the same thing.

They did add a few new facts. This is only the second time in 15 years that occupancy has gone down in the third quarter. Significant because that is when students are moving in, and so it is especially unusual when occupancy goes down.

The advice is the same. Landlords should try and sign people to longer leases. Renters should go for shorter leases and negotiate for more concessions. Many complexes are already offering free months of rent.

They conclude that rent will actually decrease 3% when you include discounts.

Princeton and Stony Creek Apartments Sold

The Princeton apartments and Stony Creek apartments, containing 222 units, were purchased by M3 Multifamily, LLC, a Santa Barbara, Calif.-based company, and sold by San Antonio Alternative Housing Corp. No. 4, a Texas non-profit organization.

The Princeton apartments were built in 1963 and remodeled in 2007. They contain 90 units and are located at 4411 Airport Blvd. The Stony Creek apartments contain 132 units and are located at 4911 Manchaca Road.

Original story here

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.

Can You Recycle at Your Apartment?

Apartments with 100 or more units are required to offer participation in the city's recycling program.

If you want to recycle and your apartment doesn't offer the option the first step should be to try and talk to management. If you aren't satisfied with their answer you can call 311 and lodge a complaint.

Residents who live in smaller complexes may drop off recyclables at places such as Ecology Action in downtown Austin.

KVUE News report