The housing market in Austin, Texas, has shown a notable decrease in rent prices for June, as reported by Newsweek. As the city witnessed the most substantial rent price drop nationally, by 9.5 percent year-over-year, according to Realtor.com, this change is indicative of a broader movement in the South, where housing units have increased due to a surge of new construction responding to the initial mass migration of the post-pandemic era.
San Antonio and Nashville followed suit, experiencing declines of 8.2 and 8.1 percent, respectively. With the constriction of the workforce now returning to traditional office settings, the resulting oversupply has prompted a natural drop in rental costs, Kevin Thompson, a financial expert, told Newsweek. He pointed out that the boom in remote work has steadily regressed, leaving an inflated number of vacant properties on the market. Nationwide, the rental decline has continued for 11 months in a row.
As detailed by KXAN, the median rent for different types of housing units registered dips across the board. Studios decreased by 1.2 percent year-over-year to $1,463, one-bedroom units fell by 1.1 percent to $1,618, and two-bedroom units saw a decline of 0.3 percent to $1,939. This variation in rent reduction points to a market where smaller units are experiencing larger declines.
Despite the downturn, the national median rent still hovers at 21.2 percent, or $305 higher than pre-pandemic levels in 2019. "But rental costs have risen significantly since before the pandemic and inflation has further strained renters’ budgets," said Danielle Hale, Chief Economist at Realtor.com, as per KXAN.
While cities like Austin adjust to this new economic reality, the Austin Board of Realtors has tracked a 26 percent climb in the number of homes for sale, totaling 13,227 active listings, Newsweek noted.
