The rental market for houses in Austin is still slowly improving, climbing out of the huge dip we took after the tech bust and 9/11. For October 2009, average and median rents are both up about 1%, but homes are taking longer to rent, averaging 42 days on market compared to 38 a year ago in October.
This is a macro view though. In talking with other property managers in Austin, it’s not uncommon for some homes to be renting for the same or less than a year earlier, while others can do a bit better. It’s really a function of the number of competing homes and the location of the property. It took 45 days for me to rent a central Austin home in 78704 recently and we had to take $50/mo. less than a year earlier. Had I accepted large dogs and/or poor credit, it would have rented right away, so rental criteria is also a determining factor in how long it takes and the amount attainable.
October stats are listed in the chart below.
| Austin Real Estate Rental Market Update October 2009 | ||||
| Houses only (condos, duplexes, etc. not included) compiled from Austin MLS data | ||||
| Sep 2009 | Oct 2009 | Oct 2008 | Yr % Change | |
| # Rented | 665 | 660 | 684 | -3.51% |
| Avg List | $1,437 | $1,421 | $1,401 | 1.43% |
| Med List | $1,250 | $1,250 | $1,250 | 0.00% |
| Avg Rent | $1,419 | $1,402 | $1,388 | 1.01% |
| Med Rent | $1,250 | $1,250 | $1,240 | 0.81% |
| Rent/List % | 98.75% | 98.66% | 99.07% | -0.41% |
| Avg SQFT | 1970 | 1951 | 1882 | 3.67% |
| Med SQFT | 1808 | 1800 | 1739 | 3.51% |
| Avg $ SQFT | $0.72 | $0.72 | $0.74 | -2.56% |
| Avg DOM | 40 | 42 | 38 | 10.53% |
| Median DOM | 32 | 34 | 29 | 17.24% |
| # Expired | 56 | 55 | 83 | -33.73% |
| # Withdrawn | 148 | 114 | 180 | -36.67% |
| Not Rented | 204 | 169 | 263 | -35.74% |
| Not Rented % | 23.48% | 20.39% | 27.77% | -26.59% |
Let’s have a look at 2009 year to date through October, compared to the same period in 2008.