Recently our local paper, The Austin American Statesman, has had really good news for the Austin area economy.  Two articles in the Saturday paper shows two good reasons for owning Austin area residential rental real estate:

Reason 1:  Anheuser Bush (you know the company that makes you want to think that Budweiser is good beer) has chosen Austin for one of its hubs.  Their chief marketing officer, Marcel Marcondes, stated in the article that the hub will employ 20 people the first year.  Although the number of hires isn’t great, the fact that Anheuser Bush is a major player in the beer business is significant.  Even more significant are the reasons for choosing Austin.  Marcondes when on to state that Austin was chosen because Austin is a growing area with lots of talent, especially high-tech talent, and the want to determine what these folks are thinking (and drinking I suppose) so that they can better gage the future.  Imagine that, beer in a crystal ball.

Reason 2:  The Texas Workforce Commission reported that the area unemployment rate for July was 4.2% which is a remarkable figure.  Lets hope that stage 2 of this pandemic won’t cause that figure to clime much higher – we were doing so well.  Remember that our pre-pandemic unemployment rate was at 3%.  Keeping our unemployment low are the number of folks moving to our area to take new jobs that are coming with company moves and expansions. It’s interesting that the leisure and hospitality industry is trailing behind in the local recovery.  I can attest to that as we often see “Help Wanted” signs posed at the entrance to restaurants.  We have experienced 30 -40 minute waits for restaurants that don’t take reservations and seeing that many tables, both in and out are empty, coupled with the Help Wanted signage, one can only conclude that lack of help is hurting these establishments.  Only another positive note, the Texas statewide unemployment for July was 6% down from 6.7% for June.

With interest rates still low, and rents high, and poised to go even higher, and with property values increasing and poised to continue to do so, doesn’t it make sense to add Austin area residential real estate to your investments?  I have, and I’m glad I do so.