Houston Apartment Market Update

Market Summary

• Key metrics for the Houston area multifamily sector recorded positive changes in February.
  
  
• Overall occupancy recorded a slight upward change compared to January. Occupancy in Class A properties went up by 0.27% to close at 93.90%. Occupancy for Class B properties went up marginally by 0.18% to close at 88.26%.
  
  
• Marginal increases were noted in the rental rates per square foot for all classes, except Class C. The average for Class A went up by $0.001 to close at $1.19 per square foot. The average for Class D properties also increased by the same margin to close at $0.644 per square foot. The largest change among the four classes was noted for Class B, where the average went up by $0.002 to close at $0.84 per square foot. The average for Class C remained unchanged over the month.
  
  
• The average rental rate per unit recorded significant positive changes for all the classes. The average rents per unit increased by $1.14 for Class A properties to close at $1,130 per unit. The average for Class B went up by $1.17 per unit to close at $691.53 per unit.
  
  
• 11,224 units spread over 48 projects are in the construction pipeline. 12.19% of these (or 1,368 units) are currently pre-leasing.

Houston Apartment Market Key Metrics

 Occupancy

88.52%

 Rent / Unit

$776.74

 Rent / SF

$0.898

 Monthly Change

+0.21%

 Monthly Change

+$0.80

 Monthly Change

-

 Annual Change

+1.48%

 Annual Change

+$8.44

 Annual Change

+$0.011

Monthly absorption in Houston was positive 1,194 units while annual absorption (rolling twelve months) totaled positive 11,037 units. 6,979 units are in the planning stage.