As new residents continue to flood in, Austin, Dallas-Fort Worth, and Houston now have the highest apartment demand in the nation.
The largest Texas metros took the top three spots in a ranking of the increase in apartments needed to meet projected demand by 2035 in a study commissioned by the National Apartment Association and the National Multifamily Housing Council.
The study calculated the needed percentage growth in local rental stock as well as the absolute number of new apartments necessary to meet demand over the next 13 years. The combined weighted average ranked the Texas metros highest in projected rise in demand, according to the Austin Business Journal.
With a 2.6 percent growth rate and 117,107 new apartments needed to meet demand, Austin’s weighted average topped all other metros. Dallas-Fort Worth and Houston ranked No. 2 and 3, respectively by the weighted average. Though both metros will need upwards of 200,000 new units each by 2035, they were both at least six points behind Austin in projected growth.
Overall, Texas ranked No. 6 among all states in weighted average rankings. The state will need 653,285 new units by 2035, representing a 1.6 percentage increase per year.
“The U.S. has undergone tremendously difficult conditions that have fundamentally altered our nation’s demographics, but one thing remains certain — there is a need and demand for more rental housing,” said NAA CEO Bob Pinnegar. “Put simply, we do not have enough housing. The U.S. must build 3.7 million new apartments just to meet future demand, on top of a 600,000 unit deficit and loss of 4.7 million affordable apartment homes.”
As of July, the Austin area had 47 apartment communities under construction, representing 13,270 units, according to ApartmentData.com. A further 128 communities are proposed with 42,257 units. However, the metro has been plagued by construction delays. The average multifamily project in Austin sees three to nine months of construction delays, Renee Zahn, secretary of the board of the Texas Apartment Association, said at this month’s Central Texas Housing Summit.
— Maddy Sperling