Rents in Houston and its suburbs spiked by double digits for a third straight month.
They jumped 11.5 percent year-over-year in February to $1,020 for one bedrooms and $1,210 for two, according to the Houston Chronicle. That lags built-to-rent single family homes, whose median rent stands at about $1,900 a month, according to Houston Association of Realtors data.
In the suburbs, rents in Sugar Land had the fastest growth, posting a 15.9 percent jump. They rose 15.2 percent in Pearland and 12.6 percent in League City. In the exurbs of Conroe, rents rose about 14.8 percent.
Houston is still one of the nation’s most affordable metropolitan areas. Pearland’s median rent is only $1,520 for a one-bedroom–the most expensive of the four submarkets. The median income is a little over $50,000 per year.
As demand for apartments in Houston surges, so will rents. Net absorption, the difference between tenant move-outs and move-ins, has jumped by more than 12,000 units this year, according to CoStar.
Last year rents soared as demand for housing spiked during the first stage of the post-pandemic recovery. Now escalating home prices and climbing mortgage rates could keep would-be buyers from purchasing homes, causing more strain on the rental market.
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Average home sales price rose to $395,00 from $360,000 last year, according to Jennifer Wauhob, chair of the Houston Association of Realtors. A lack of inventory will keep stoking demand.
“This isn’t a housing bubble,” she said. “We aren’t expecting a crash of any kind. I know some people keep asking me that. This is, we have more buyers than we have available homes.”
The uptick in rental prices shows no sign of slowing down, either.
[Houston Chronicle] – Maddy Sperling