A Wall Street Journal commentary on the Austin rental market . . . with a little perspective.
The Wall Street Journal Online ran a piece over the holidays highlighting the coming "glut" of apartment units about to hit the market in 2009. The implied consequences are reduced rent, greater negotiating power for prospective tenants, etc. The numbers are solid but there's a lack of context here.
First of all, the majority of the product is geared toward a special buyer. Either a luxury downtown tenant downtown (think of how many of the cited units were brought to market by projects like Monarch, the new rentals by the YMCA, the two new Gables towers opening in 2009, etc.) or a luxury outlying buyer (new Alexan properties on 2222/360, Southwest Parkway.) Where's the more basic but competent accommodations for wage-earning folks who need to live within five to eight miles of the central business district?
Check out the WSJ post below. I'd like to hear your conclusions.
WSJ ONLINE POST
posted by BradleyPounds @ 9:31 AM
2 Comments:
Thats a damn good point Brad. I think some of the proposed East Austin developments will be priced a little lower. But instead of building new units for middle class tenants near to downtown they have instead set aside other proposals that will get people from their affordable apartments in the suburbs to downtown easily and quicker via toll roads, light rail, Capital Metro shuttles etc. For ex; the Metric area now hosts the UT tech-ridge shuttle, and the Arboretum hosts the #981 and #983 Downtown shuttles. The only thing middle class wage earners have to look forward too is that as these new units go up then older accomodations up and down SOCO, SOFI, and SOLA will eventually lower their prices making them more affordable. However that still dosent solve the problem of not having any new or semi-new apartment options near downtown for rates between $6-$800. Gables W. Avenue, The Domain etc both have 30% affordable housing and I think that will be the middle class's only hope for being close to downtown in a lower priced unit that is semi-new. But in response to your question in Northwest Austin you CAN get something Brand New for a very low rate using pro-rated concessions such as 1,2, and 3 months free. CLICK HERE! for some of those options
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