Why Austin Area Residential Rentals are a Great Idea!

First, the Austin area has always been a good place to own residential rent properties and that is in part what moved me and my family to Austin in 1981. Over the years, “good” has moved to “great” as the Austin area has continued to grow by attracting new business, especially high-tech business to the area. This plus the fact that Austin is the state capitol of a very large state, has a very large learning institution (UT) and other fine colleges in the area, coupled with a favorable climate and favorable tax rate, makes investing in local residential rentals a no-brainer. Fact is, over 50% of the citizenry of Austin rent housing. And that figure is poised to increase.

In 2016 Forbes published an article stating that in 2015 that nationwide that 36.3% of all households were rentals. The article went on to state that homeownership in this time period fell from 69% to 63.6%. This trend was NOT attributed to millenarians as we so often hear but to those in their 30’s and 40’s who prefer to rent vs. buy which is the opposite of what the standard was ten years ago.

A CNBC report in 2015 stated that the homeownership rate peaked in 2004 at 69.2% but now is close to the lowest it’s been since 1965. Meanwhile household formations are increasing meaning that rents continue to rise.

As businesses continue to expand and to relocate to our area one should expect to see further demand for rent housing. Consider this recent headline this week from the Austin American Statesman. The paper reported that California based JRS, a sign manufacturing company, will be relocating their Corvina HQ to Hutto Texas. They will be bringing with them 25 employees and will hire 40 more. Not a large company, but a company that sees that the Austin area is a good place to do business. And of course the new employees have to live somewhere and many of the new hires may move as well.

Reviewing all of the above and piecing it together, one can easily see that Austin with all of the vibrancy the area has to offer coupled with business growth and a young growing population, is an area where it makes sense to own residential rental real estate

Rick Ebert / Austin, Texas / 9 Feb 18