Build-to-rent takes off in Texas

Banyan Residential plans 230-home rental community north of Austin

Banyan Residential founder Benjamin E. Brosseau& suburbs of Pflugerville, Texas (iStock, Banyan Residential)
Banyan Residential founder Benjamin E. Brosseau& suburbs of Pflugerville, Texas (iStock, Banyan Residential)

Build-to-rent is taking off in Texas.

California’s Banyan Residential said it will build a 34.4-acre community of single-family rental homes in Pflugerville, a booming suburb 18 miles north of the Texas capital, the Austin Business Journal reported. Banyan, in partnership with Salt Lake City’s Bridge Investment, didn’t disclose the price of land bought for the development.

The planned community at 2601 Crystal Bend Drive will have 230 single-family homes for rent at market rates. Rents will be comparable to those of similarly sized Class A apartments. It will include a pool, fitness center and green space.

Pflugerville’s population jumped 44 percent in the past decade to 67,796. Like nearby Round Rock and Georgetown, the city is booming in part because of the nearby presence of tech employers, including Dell Technologies, Apple. Samsung is building a $18 billion semiconductor factory in Taylor, Texas, 18 miles from Pflugerville.

The so far unnamed single-family rental development is Banyan Residential’s third in Texas. The company also developed Banyan Kingsland Heights, a 96-home community near Houston, and is building 163-home Banyan Bunton Creek in Kyle, 22 miles south of Austin.

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The Pflugerville development is part of a nationwide build-to-rent trend as renters seek single-family homes instead of apartments. In the Austin area, the communities also play a role in addressing a housing shortage and home-buying prices that are out of reach for many moving to or already living there.

Wan Bridge Group, Taylor Morrison, UM Development and Aspen Heights Partners said last year that they would develop single-family rental communities in the Austin area. Those include a UM Development, about five miles from the Banyan site in Pflugerville.

[ABJ] — Cindy Widner

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