"Rents are still quite low . . . " ---- Are you kidding me?
Check out this Statesman article that attempts to explain, albeit topically, why your rent has gone up $100 bucks in a year and a half. The argument that high construction costs prevent developers from building new rental units in the Austin area doesn't hold water with me. Those conditions were true in the late nineties through 2000, when the same report mentions that 10,000 new units were added.
What am I missing? Thoughts?
Austin American Statesman
posted by BradleyPounds @ 5:15 PM
5 Comments:
if apartments took their payment in gold, prices would be decreasing (as measured in gold), but since they are paid in dollars, prices are increasing.
Rent a house. Homes still rent in Austin for less than they did in 1999. See ..
http://crosslandteam.com/investing-austin-real-estate.php
There's just more people here now. It's a basic supply and demand issue. We don't have 100 people moving into town each day like we did in the late nineties, but most of the people who have moved here in the past few years have stayed.
And 10,000 new units isn't that much, especially when you consider that most people can't afford to move into newer apartment complexes.
If you look at national averages, rents ARE still quite low. As of 2005, Austin was below average (cost of living score of 97, with 100 being the average). It's not as cheap as Houston or Dallas, but when you look at how high our quality of life is here (and how much rent is in comparable cities, say, on the west coast), we're doing pretty well. We just need more housing.
Which brings us to the next question--Is the quality of life worth it if you can't afford it? Renters and homeowners will have to answer that for themselves.
Thing is, the West Coast has more high paying jobs and more unionization than Texas. Putting Austin in national price competition might be nice for Californians who move in but it screws over people actually from the region. If Austin wants to actually maintain or renew an independent spirit and not just turn into a smaler clone of the major cities on the coasts, it has to work to keep rents and mortgages affordable, like dallas affordable.
Best way to really do that is with an assertive community land trust. Take a percentage of rental and home owner property out of market increase, and you can create a sort of stabilizing price floor for everyone else.
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