San Antonio better investment than Austin

Even as rising interest rates cool housing markets across Texas, The Real Deal publisher Amir Korangy has a bold outlook on real estate investment in the Alamo City. 

San Antonio is a better city to invest in than Austin, Korangy told the San Antonio Current. The city’s economic fundamentals make it less likely to face as severe a slowdown as its sister city 80 miles up Interstate 35. 

“I would expect San Antonio to be more steady and less prone to fluctuations than Austin — probably remaining a generally more affordable option and featuring less speculation,” Korangy told the Current. “I would opt for San Antonio as a relative safe harbor over the balance of this year.”

Korangy’s predictions run against a report by Florida Atlantic University that found San Antonio’s housing market to be overvalued by more than 30 percent. The same study concluded that Austin homes were overvalued by 67 percent, though, so the relative mismatch in pricing is less severe in San Antonio.

Chief among the reasons to be bullish on San Antonio are the city’s healthcare, military and cybersecurity industries, which can provide stability even during economic downturns, Korangy said. 

Investors have become increasingly interested in San Antonio. The National Association of Realtors named it one of the top 10 real estate investment markets to watch, and Zumper called it the No. 6 city for retirees. 

Still, home sales in recent months have been slower than they were in the pandemic boom era. January saw 30 percent fewer closings on single-family homes than the previous January, according to the San Antonio Board of Realtors. 

“It should be well-suited to work through a slowdown,” Korangy told the publication. “However, especially on multifamily, which has a robust pipeline and is poised to begin slow increases in rental rates, perhaps providing pause that will bring some equilibrium.”

– Joe Lovinger

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