Austin Rental Market Update – March 2008 and YTD

Homes in Austin are renting for 8% more than last year, on average. Average rent price for homes across the Austin Metro area was $1401 per month for March 2008 compared to $1295/mo the year before. The Median leased price remained about the same at $1200. Homes are renting fast this March. The average days on market was down to 37 days from 42 last year. The Median days on market was 26 compared to 28 days last year, which means half of the rental homes in Austin that leased through the Austin MLS rented in 26 days or less, and half took more than 26 days to rent.

The average rental price per sqaure foot is up almost 6% to $0.73 compared to $0.69 last year. The average size rental home in Austin was 1915 sqft and the median size was 1794 square feet.

The number of homes rented was down about 10%. More renters are renewing leases as fewer can qualify for home purchases than in the past several years. This is good for landlords. Note that our average rental rate of $1401/mo for March 2008 is still lower that the average of $1497/mo that renters paid in the year 2000 and the $1524/mo renters paid in 2001 before Austin rents tumbled for four years and bottomed out at $1235/mo in 2005. So we’re still trying to climb back to where we were 6 or 7 years ago.

Below is the data chart for March Rentals in Austin. Further below is a year to date chart, breakdown by city, and a historical graph of rental rates in Austin from 1999 through the end of March 2008. As usual, comments and questions are welcome.

Austin Rental Market Stats March 2008
Previous Month and Year Comparison
All MLS Areas - Houses Only

 

Feb 2008

Mar 2008

Mar 2007

Yr % Change
# Leased 563 594 659 -9.86%
Avg List Price $1,370 $1,412 $1,305 8.20%
Median List Price $1,200 $1,250 $1,200 4.17%
Avg Leased Price $1,362 $1,401 $1,295 8.19%
Med Leased Price $1,200 $1,200 $1,195 0.42%
Avg Size SQFT 1901 1915 1874 2.19%
Median SQFT 1755 1794 1769 1.41%
Avg $ per SQFT $0.72 $0.73 $0.69 5.87%
Avg Days on Mkt 39 37 42 -11.90%
Median Days on Mkt 27 26 28 -7.14%

Below is the Year to Date Comparison chart.

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