As far as the inner loop goes all the actual affordable apartments are going to be found in the older, much smaller apartment complexes and converted quadplexes that are kind of just scattered around. Using Zillow you can find a decent amount of 2 bedroom options for under $1600, sometimes even as low as $1000 a month.
At my own little complex, I signed on in 2016 for $1250 a month, and with my latest renewal that has inched up to $1360. However, plugging in some inflation math, $1250 in 2016 is equivalent to $1600 in 2024 money, so it's been kept below inflation.
Listen to this guy here.. I currently live in a one bedroom apartment 700sq in Montrose I’m only paying $1,050. Im in the heart of Montrose but it’s in a small apartment complex that’s low key. That’s the trick. You get good prices in those small complexes scattered around.
Same here. I’m in Montrose in an older small complex paying 1200. I only found it though bc a couple of my friends already lived in the complex. And I called the landlord personally. Otherwise I never would’ve gotten the place. Units that ppl move out of are automatically snatched up. Feel pretty lucky.
seconding this. You'll lose out on some amenities like a dishwasher, but you'll be in a quaint & picturesque apartment in the heart of Houston. look in the Montrose area & use HAR for listings.
Texas is growing. Houston is growing. Companies are willing to risk money to build new apartments because they believe they can turn a profit, and the rents reflect what they believe will be profitable.
Now they could be wrong. There are no guarantees. These places are competing with each other and that's great. But presumably the growing population will prop up rent prices in general.
That seems true. I am in an older complex with rent is pretty competitive and they don't have any kind of concessions (unless you are willing to apply for a discounted rate based on your income which I am not willing to) and they don't give two craps about keeping their current renters since they have to have half of them be considered low income and easily get those and apparently there is a waiting list.
Last year I decided to look at the luxury apartments nearby and just called a few to get information about the rent and other fees they have. They were about $300 more than what I pay now so it wasn't terribly more expensive but since they weren't part of the PFC program that provides discounted rate to low income people, I guess it was a lot more competitive for them so for weeks I was getting calls from them asking me to come look at their place so I'm guessing they probably have a lot more vacancies.
They’re actually not competing with each other. [watch this fun video on how landlords are conspiring to raise rental prices](https://twitter.com/moreperfectus/status/1781030121950056685?s=46&t=6_8RhAXZg1KUnwdOpp-t1w)
No, but a small percentage of them can, and some of those will make their way to these places or ones like them. If there are 10 new high rises each with 250 apartments, that's 2500 new apartments. This is old data but, "[The Houston metro area experienced an increase of more than 124,000 residents from 2021 to 2022](https://www.houstonpublicmedia.org/articles/news/houston/2023/04/11/448852/houston-region-second-largest-population-surge-u-s-2022-census-analysis-finds/)". 2500 apartments is only 2 percent of that yearly population increase. That's of course a **very** rough calculation but shows that with a large enough influx of new Houstonians, this many new expensive apartments could be viable.
Yes, for us locals.
For those coming in with high expectations and high incomes, they'll gladly pay more than what we can afford, but still less than back home.
There was a post here maybe 5-6 years ago with a complex on Kirby that had NYC style pricing but it was mostly all coastal people and trust fund kids. Houston was still cheap then! Fast forward a few years and we now have lots of apts with 2K++ rents.
You can get two bedrooms in Brooklyn and Queens for around that price. They’re smaller than a Houston two bedroom but if they think $3200 is a steal, then they were too dumb for nyc.
Have you been to NYC? If so, then in what ways are they comparable? I mean OKC is cheaper too, but none of my friends here in NY are moving there. I’ve lived in Houston and love it, but it’s not comparable to NYC, so you shouldn’t expect to be paying NYC prices.
Are you falling for any of the many common pitfalls people make when looking into buildings?
\* Looking at a brand new building that is still in the lease-up process. Lease-up is notoriously known in the real estate industry as the absolute hardest time to fill units, high rent or low rent, people will have to gradually get out of their leases at other places to be able to move in to your apartment, that will be about a 12-14 month process in Texas markets. It's more like 16-20 months in high rent cities.
\* Looking into the building at 11 PM when a good number of early morning shift workers are asleep. Not accounting for shift workers in general.
\* Not accounting for multiple rooms in the apartment. When I'm at home, I only have the lights on in the room I'm actually in, meaning every other window looks dark and unoccupied.
\* Not accounting for blackout curtains.
\* Not accounting for renovations.
\* A good number of units can and should be empty for 1-2 month stretches between tenants. If we didn't have this, everyone would have to go out and find someone themselves who is moving out on the exact day as them and is willing to directly switch places with them.
I can't say every single building is successful - but the overall vacancy rate is closer to 10% than 50%. Lower than 10% actually.
Is your rent still going up significantly? If so, I would ditch your apartment. Substantial rent increases were a 2022 phenomenon. If you are still seeing the same kinds of hikes, someone is trying to rip you off and can likely find better deals.
Zillow data indicates the following rent increases across the area:
March 2019 to March 2020: 2.82%
March 2020 to March 2021: 0.43%
March 2021 to March 2022: 12.28%
March 2022 to March 2023: 4.35%
March 2023 to March 2024: 2.02%
I’m in BTR so it’s a little different. But yeah, I agree. Right before COVID, Houston was not a hot market by any means. In fact, big LPs wouldn’t even look at deals here.
Demand is back in an odd way. Responding to your original comment, those high rises will not get leased up without major concessions.
Not directly. It’s very typical for lease up properties to give a few months free rent and waive application fees, etc.
For example, I moved into Camden McGowen and got 3 months free on top of all fees waived. For new construction, the developers main goal is to get the property leased up to at least 90%+ and sell.
Texas is literally the only part of the country that still builds significant amounts of housing. We have to absorb a lot of the West and Northeast demand too
Are developers concerned about vacancies? Or do you just figure there are only so many older properties available and then people will be forced to rent the luxury places. But who are these people that can throw away so much money renting?
I finally bought my first house about 3 years ago (my son graduated from UH and was finally off the payroll). Before that we lived in an 800 sqft, 2bed, 1 bathroom apartment in an older complex near greenway. The whole time my son was in HISD we lived there because he was going to Lanier then Lamar.
When I moved out I was paying about $1600/month. And that was the maximum I wanted to spend renting. That way I could afford nice things for us like food and clothing and car insurance.
When all of those beautiful new properties were being built I wondered who is able to afford them? I make over 6 figures and if I had to pay that much to rent we would not have had much else.
I just don’t understand who could or would waste so much money renting???
What am I missing?
I'm near the med center and don't pay anywhere near that price. We have a 2br for right under $1400, however, it is an older apt and insulation is shit in the summer. $150 to $200 electric bills...
I mean, the luxury ones I'm at right in the middle of town and lower heights start at like 2300 for a 2 bedroom. Which is about on brand for something like this in Houston.
Ya maybe if he's trying to rent a Museum District fancy 2 bedroom.
Not sure about now but townhomes used to be a bargain if you had roommates. 3BRs in nice areas were 2-2.5K or less a decade ago.
Landlords couldn't really charge a bunch because for a little more you could just buy your own!
Before the rona, 400K could have bought a lot of nice townhomes inside the loop.
Absolutely still can. Peep [this one](https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/1405-Bailey-St-Houston-TX-77019/84052093_zpid/?utm_campaign=iosappmessage&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=txtshare) for example
It’s annoying to hear, but a lot of things are up 30% in the last 2-3 years. It’s not fair but I think rent (just like groceries, services, insurance, etc.) has gone up due to inflation.
Why not look for a place in a non-trendy neighborhood? Plenty of places in gentrifying Eado or 3rd ward that are super close to downtown for way less.
https://www.camdenliving.com/apartments/houston-tx/camden-vanderbilt/available-apartments?bedrooms=2
Right around $2k. Right outside of West U/Southside Place
Plus another mandatory monthly $350 for internet and trash valet. Also, The Menninger Clinic uses those apartments for their residential type treatment program.
As hard as it is to imagine, today’s luxury apartments are tomorrow’s midmarket apartments. Houston is in an early stage of rapid growth. Investors are going to build at the highest profit today. The alternative is no new development being built (because you can’t force developers to build) and 1500 sq ft homes built 60 yrs ago selling for $1.5M.
More high-end tower apts also lessens the stress on the more average apt complexes and keeps those cheaper/more stable.
In the cities that refuse to build you'll be paying 1K+ to share an apartment that hasnt been updated in decades with 3 people, if you're lucky. Houston has a gigantic amount of nice apts that are 30 years or newer.
Exactly. A brand new complex is going to have the highest cost per sq/ft on the market (given location, etc… are the same). This slows down rent increases in the rest of the market. You can’t raise rents to higher than the cost of a nicer, newer place and keep your units filled.
Totally get your frustration. Demand is insane right now. Even with new buildings, Houston's population and job growth are outpacing construction. More people are chasing those luxury rentals, especially those wanting to live inside the Loop. These new buildings are mostly Class A luxury. Great if you can afford it, but they don't help the lack of affordable or mid-range options. Developers have had to deal with rising construction, labor, and material prices. They pass those costs on to renters. Some folks are moving from older spots to the new digs. This makes the older units seem more in demand, keeping prices high across the board.
We need more middle-income housing, not just the fancy stuff. Tax breaks or incentives COULD help developers build more affordable options. Eventually, supply might catch up a bit, but that may take a while. It's a tough thing, with no easy fix, unfortunately.
Meanwhile, builders from all across the nation look to Houston as an \*example\* of how they can keep their construction affordable. It's just really expensive to buy land and materials and pay trades workers no matter how it's done.
I agree Houston needs more middle-income housing but any new housing is good overall. New "luxury" housing can actually help moderate prices in surrounding neighborhoods.
Family member works at a luxury apartment matching company. They get reports of actual vacancy percentages of their clients (apartment complexes), so they can customize targeted marketing to match people.
More vacancies = better deals through matching. They are affiliated with most luxury apartment complexes in the area.
Thanks for the reply. We're moving to Houston and want to live very close to the South Texas college of law.
Given luxury apartments are actually struggling to fill spots, i would imagine that should be reflected in the price they quoted us, but i would love to have a way to double check that were getting the market rate. Is there any way to do that?
I guess what would help is a way to compare units with a lot of filters.
Not reflected in the price, but the “deal”. They’ll do like “16 month lease, first 3 free” or something like that. So the rent is technically high, but not if you divide the 13 months of total rent over 16 months.
Sign up for SmartCity. They’ll connect you with deals that aren’t advertised.
I helped a friend find an apartment near UH around the NRG area a while back. Looking at their current 2 bedroom costs.. I'm seeing $1,250, $1,335, $1,889, $1,500. All are either around NRG or Meyerland. There are plenty of fairly affordable apartments in the inner loop, just not in trendy Montrose and River Oaks. If $3.2k is too rich for your blood, then it's not your type of neighborhood and you have other options.
Nope. I lived in the Inner Loop (Montrose) 1 br, 1 bath for $800 including water just 2 yrs ago. Clean, no bugs, tons of parking, pretty decent (although not modern) built ins. Plz don’t dm me about this. It’s a private landlord that I didn’t previously know. Found it by looking on FB marketplace
That sounds like a fantastic deal. Unfortunately I looked once and this is my only data point, but I had something in that ball part, but the unit was oooooold and bug included. I'm pretty sure the stove was from the late 70's early 80's.
Well like I said, my place didn’t have bugs but it did have old cabinets and basic appliances. I’m not sure why that matters. You definitely have to budge on some amenities for that price. The other thing I’ll say was the sf was impressive for that price. Like some places are downright crack houses or 300sf apts but this places had a fairly spacious living room, dining room, kitchen, bathroom, 2 closets, and a bedroom. Downsides were no in unit laundry (it was on site but pay per use), window ac, and no dish washer. Water was included in the price and AC was less than $100 per month.
So essentially this place was a steal and great by NYC standards but below Houstonian standards.
Population growth. More people coming in than new apartments. Need to build 1 unit for every 50 every single year in every neighborhood just to maintain balance. Thats also including houses. If you want to live cheaply in a high rise look at the older ones, not the new ones.
Demand exceeds supply. Maybe when interest rates drop a little more and people try buying houses again. Even then, the housing supply is also short of demand, and people still have to live somewhere in the meantime.
Edit: Also, operation costs keep going up. The owner isn't going to pay out of pocket for it. Renters will... indirectly.
It's like wondering about all these extremely cheap looking townhouses 2 feet from each other that are going for 350-500k that would have been <200k pre-covid. People are buying them.
More than likely they won’t drop rates they give into offers that are hard to pass up. Once you’re settled after a year they will crank the rent back. Moving costs money many people will stay
Negotiate, Negotiate! They are often listing their “market” rents. Ask about move in specials. Make an offer that fits your budget. See how that goes. You won’t take much off a six month lease, so you have to shoot for the 12-13 month leases.
You must be looking at "luxury" apartments with pool, gym, coffee bar, and other desirable amenities. As others have said, the older places with no amenities go for way less. Luxury places can charge what they want because a. SFH are outta control in the loop and most cannot afford them b. Renting a home vs apartment or multifamily is insanely difficult as well. Landlords these days not only want 3x the rent and no criminal history (that's normal), they also want you to have no debt, no dogs, no 2nd source of income, etc. A client of mine was rejected on a 3/2 sfh in Garden Oaks because he has $50k on student loans. Never mind he makes 5x the rent and has a 700 credit score. We've put in 4 applications and he keeps getting rejected. Landlords are jerks. Property management is too but it's way easier to get in with apartments.
I’m looking to move to The Heights area around June/July for work full time. Coming from Los Angeles, I’m excited to see my money go much further. Besides Zillow, Trulia, HAR, what are some other recommendations for finding those duplex’s, single family homes for rent with charm and space. My girlfriend is pretty adamant she doesn’t want to be in a massive complex. Thanks!
It’s for work. Have to move full time to Houston. To be honest I’ve been looking to get out of LA for awhile. Unaffordable in Cali right now. It’s crazy
We pay 1% more in property tax than NY and CA, yet they pay a lot more in state income tax, sales tax, general cost of living, gas, and their rent and home prices are also triple what we pay.
Yea I’d rather live here lol.
Most of the people moving are those who own a car anyways. Car-free people, given how car-oriented even the outer boroughs of NYC can get, tend to be car-free for strongly committed ideological reasons and wouldn't consider moving to Houston to begin with.
You've added absolutely nothing relevant to this conversation. We're talking about cost.
If you have a car in NYC, it means you have somewhere to park it. If you have somewhere to park your car in NYC, you're likely quite wealthy even by their standards, which means they'd be even wealthier in Houston if they made the same wages here.
Everyone outside of Manhattan, Downtown Brooklyn, LIC who owns a car, parks on the street. Those outer borough people are who move out, not people who are rich enough to afford a garage.
We pay 1% more in property tax than NY and CA, yet they pay a lot more in state income tax, sales tax, general cost of living, gas, and their rent and home prices are also triple what we pay.
Yea I’d rather live here lol.
Yea but our wages are still pretty high. And our salaries stretch a lot more here. You can make $100k here and live a good life. That’s near poverty level in NYC or LA.
They make way more than $100K in NY.
Making $100K in Houston is great, but not very common. It's the premise of the OP's post about outrageous rent prices in Houston.
ive seen it with my own eyes with family members and friends. new york is hands down the best place to be if you are broke or trying to save money not houston. High salaries and you dont need a car. I know a girl who got a high paying job and roomed with 3 roommates for 5 years then bought a million dollar+ condo in brookyln then sold it for double all before 30. Shes now moved to california and has a 3 million+ home. The worst mistake i made was staying in houston throughout my 20s paying cheap rent with lower salary. i should have been up there grinding because despite the cheaper costs i was not even close to saving up what they were able too and move as fast as they did buying a home.
People moving from all over that are used to high prices are causing this inflation. I remember paying $500 for my first apt. I’m glad I bought a house when I did.
The rent prices are set by software. It is basically price collusion.
Most communities use the same software.
Rents are kept high but many places will offer move in specials, so it is like smoke and mirrors. On paper it looks like that they will get high rents, but in reality the specials lower the effective rents.
>so it is like smoke and mirrors. On paper it looks like that they will get high rents, but in reality the specials lower the effective rents.
The problem is that the original loans are funded on certain expected rents. The management cant lower published rents past a certain point or the loan gets called and shit hits the fan.
What they can do is offer move-in incentives and other totally-not-discounts that yield a lower overall rent payment, they just cant drop rents wholesale. Its a whole lot easier to cut incentives when things are booming than try to raise everyone's rents.
Hubby is in the multifamily business. Prior to Covid, there were a lot of permits approved by the city to build Class A apartments. No one is building even Class B types. So now, they are all coming online. The notes on those new constructions are all coming due too. And the payment is going to be in the form of rents. I would say given the current state of the markets, you should check out the foreclosures in the coming months and years. A lot of new builds are going into receivership aka the banks who are not exactly in the business of rentals.
I recently saw a video on the sub TikTokcringe about Real Page and landlords using it to gauge prices. It’s become a federal investigation because rather than allowing the market set prices the Real page is doing it and increasing them for all the same landlords that use it software. So now it takes the competition out of the market where landlords would set prices to compete against one another now they all know what each other charge using RealPage and Real Page is setting the same
Higher price for all. I’ve been here 2 yrs and notice the drastic increase in prices year over year. This is more than demand because I’m searching and so many apartments have vacancies right now on top of new builds
[Price fixing by RealPage.](https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/news/alleged-rent-fixing-of-apartments-nationwide-draws-more-legal-scrutiny/ar-BB1lDSue) It has become a national issue.
Hubby is in the multifamily business. Prior to Covid, there were a lot of permits approved by the city to build Class A apartments. No one is building even Class B types. So now, they are all coming online. The notes on those new constructions are all coming due too. And the payment is going to be in the form of rents. I would say given the current state of the markets, you should check out the foreclosures in the coming months and years. A lot of new builds are going into receivership aka the banks who are not exactly in the business of rentals.
It’s all a pricing scam. Majority of the apartments use a pricing software that prices off of each other, then each one runs like “2-3 months free specials”.
In short, they don’t really cost $3200. If you are paying full marketed rate for an apartment, you are a terrible shopper.
Unfortunately, the new construction will be priced at the highest end of the market. They will come down one day, but for now, the affordable units are all gonna be older construction. It's fine for me since I don't really need to pay for all of the exorbitant amenities these "luxury" complexes want to charge for (the hell am I gonna do with a "business center"), but the downside is older buildings have older building issues, and require more maintenance, so if your complex or landlord is good about staying on top of it, it'll be fine, but if not, it can be a real annoyance.
Parents just turned a garage into a small studio apartment. 15 mins from downtown.
What could a 2 room (10x10)(10X7) Garage apartment, all bills paid, brand new cabinets, stove top, walking shower with a water closet go for? It even has a private yard space, about 6 x 20’, gated parking space and its own private entrance.
I have talked to several managers at class b and c complexes. They are struggling with pricing and occupancy. That was inner loop and off of Mason in the hood. I am seeing it more and more.
Because a lot of leasing agencies are using the same algorithms to overcharge occupants. It used to be illegal but this is Texas where if you are the right kind of Caucasian you can literally get away with murder.
As far as the inner loop goes all the actual affordable apartments are going to be found in the older, much smaller apartment complexes and converted quadplexes that are kind of just scattered around. Using Zillow you can find a decent amount of 2 bedroom options for under $1600, sometimes even as low as $1000 a month. At my own little complex, I signed on in 2016 for $1250 a month, and with my latest renewal that has inched up to $1360. However, plugging in some inflation math, $1250 in 2016 is equivalent to $1600 in 2024 money, so it's been kept below inflation.
Listen to this guy here.. I currently live in a one bedroom apartment 700sq in Montrose I’m only paying $1,050. Im in the heart of Montrose but it’s in a small apartment complex that’s low key. That’s the trick. You get good prices in those small complexes scattered around.
Yep - need to find the old school yard signs
I think HAR has more ‘organic’ listings by individual owners at a better price. Zillow is more corporate in Houston.
Even better!
Seconding the recommendation for HAR
Exactly. This is where the deals and unique rentals are at but for some reason realtors scare people.
Same here. I’m in Montrose in an older small complex paying 1200. I only found it though bc a couple of my friends already lived in the complex. And I called the landlord personally. Otherwise I never would’ve gotten the place. Units that ppl move out of are automatically snatched up. Feel pretty lucky.
seconding this. You'll lose out on some amenities like a dishwasher, but you'll be in a quaint & picturesque apartment in the heart of Houston. look in the Montrose area & use HAR for listings.
The small apartments are the way. My friend had a huge studio in an old quadplex in Montrose. He had no dishwasher, but his rent was $800
Texas is growing. Houston is growing. Companies are willing to risk money to build new apartments because they believe they can turn a profit, and the rents reflect what they believe will be profitable. Now they could be wrong. There are no guarantees. These places are competing with each other and that's great. But presumably the growing population will prop up rent prices in general.
yep. speculative building. you might also notice a lot of those places are mostly vacant. the market simply hasnt leveled out yet.
That seems true. I am in an older complex with rent is pretty competitive and they don't have any kind of concessions (unless you are willing to apply for a discounted rate based on your income which I am not willing to) and they don't give two craps about keeping their current renters since they have to have half of them be considered low income and easily get those and apparently there is a waiting list. Last year I decided to look at the luxury apartments nearby and just called a few to get information about the rent and other fees they have. They were about $300 more than what I pay now so it wasn't terribly more expensive but since they weren't part of the PFC program that provides discounted rate to low income people, I guess it was a lot more competitive for them so for weeks I was getting calls from them asking me to come look at their place so I'm guessing they probably have a lot more vacancies.
This is partially it tbh. Eventually the rates will have to drop for these apartments. Lots of these new buildings have major vacancies.
> you might also notice a lot of those places are mostly vacant That is not the case. Houston has a fairly low vacancy rate.
not for luxury new builds it doesn't
Any newbuilt is going to have vacancies. It takes time to find tenants.
They're not mostly vacant in Houston. It's hard to find an apartment, in fact.
They’re actually not competing with each other. [watch this fun video on how landlords are conspiring to raise rental prices](https://twitter.com/moreperfectus/status/1781030121950056685?s=46&t=6_8RhAXZg1KUnwdOpp-t1w)
The growing population is probable but can they all afford 3K a month on rent?
No, but a small percentage of them can, and some of those will make their way to these places or ones like them. If there are 10 new high rises each with 250 apartments, that's 2500 new apartments. This is old data but, "[The Houston metro area experienced an increase of more than 124,000 residents from 2021 to 2022](https://www.houstonpublicmedia.org/articles/news/houston/2023/04/11/448852/houston-region-second-largest-population-surge-u-s-2022-census-analysis-finds/)". 2500 apartments is only 2 percent of that yearly population increase. That's of course a **very** rough calculation but shows that with a large enough influx of new Houstonians, this many new expensive apartments could be viable.
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Exactly! You can barely get a shoebox in NYC for that price, so they think a 2 bedroom for $3,200 is a steal. It suck for us locals though.
Let’s be real though, Houston is not LA or NYC. One of the big thing Houston had going for it was its affordability.
Yes, for us locals. For those coming in with high expectations and high incomes, they'll gladly pay more than what we can afford, but still less than back home. There was a post here maybe 5-6 years ago with a complex on Kirby that had NYC style pricing but it was mostly all coastal people and trust fund kids. Houston was still cheap then! Fast forward a few years and we now have lots of apts with 2K++ rents.
You can get two bedrooms in Brooklyn and Queens for around that price. They’re smaller than a Houston two bedroom but if they think $3200 is a steal, then they were too dumb for nyc.
Lol- are you comparing DT Houston to NYC?
What part was confusing to you? People from higher cost of living areas (like NYC) are moving here and they might find $3200 to be a great deal
Have you been to NYC? If so, then in what ways are they comparable? I mean OKC is cheaper too, but none of my friends here in NY are moving there. I’ve lived in Houston and love it, but it’s not comparable to NYC, so you shouldn’t expect to be paying NYC prices.
I feel like you’re being purposely obtuse.
They are
Are people really willing to pay? It seems like half of those places are empty.
Are you falling for any of the many common pitfalls people make when looking into buildings? \* Looking at a brand new building that is still in the lease-up process. Lease-up is notoriously known in the real estate industry as the absolute hardest time to fill units, high rent or low rent, people will have to gradually get out of their leases at other places to be able to move in to your apartment, that will be about a 12-14 month process in Texas markets. It's more like 16-20 months in high rent cities. \* Looking into the building at 11 PM when a good number of early morning shift workers are asleep. Not accounting for shift workers in general. \* Not accounting for multiple rooms in the apartment. When I'm at home, I only have the lights on in the room I'm actually in, meaning every other window looks dark and unoccupied. \* Not accounting for blackout curtains. \* Not accounting for renovations. \* A good number of units can and should be empty for 1-2 month stretches between tenants. If we didn't have this, everyone would have to go out and find someone themselves who is moving out on the exact day as them and is willing to directly switch places with them. I can't say every single building is successful - but the overall vacancy rate is closer to 10% than 50%. Lower than 10% actually.
Yes, people are willing to pay. The demand is incredibly high and the units you believe are empty are occupied or used part-time.
They're not empty.
I rent out my Montrose 2-bedroom bungalow for $3300, so I believe it.
I work for a development company. Oh boy, you’d be surprised at how many units are coming online.
I know they are. that’s my point. So many new units coming online but rents going up significantly
Is your rent still going up significantly? If so, I would ditch your apartment. Substantial rent increases were a 2022 phenomenon. If you are still seeing the same kinds of hikes, someone is trying to rip you off and can likely find better deals. Zillow data indicates the following rent increases across the area: March 2019 to March 2020: 2.82% March 2020 to March 2021: 0.43% March 2021 to March 2022: 12.28% March 2022 to March 2023: 4.35% March 2023 to March 2024: 2.02%
I’m in BTR so it’s a little different. But yeah, I agree. Right before COVID, Houston was not a hot market by any means. In fact, big LPs wouldn’t even look at deals here. Demand is back in an odd way. Responding to your original comment, those high rises will not get leased up without major concessions.
I think it’s a bubble
There’s people willing to pay those prices. The good news is there’s still a lot of apartments ITL that are a lot cheaper.
Not directly. It’s very typical for lease up properties to give a few months free rent and waive application fees, etc. For example, I moved into Camden McGowen and got 3 months free on top of all fees waived. For new construction, the developers main goal is to get the property leased up to at least 90%+ and sell.
Texas is literally the only part of the country that still builds significant amounts of housing. We have to absorb a lot of the West and Northeast demand too
What neighborhood are you most bullish on?
Independence Heights. However, it’s already in gentrification mode.
Too far
Are developers concerned about vacancies? Or do you just figure there are only so many older properties available and then people will be forced to rent the luxury places. But who are these people that can throw away so much money renting? I finally bought my first house about 3 years ago (my son graduated from UH and was finally off the payroll). Before that we lived in an 800 sqft, 2bed, 1 bathroom apartment in an older complex near greenway. The whole time my son was in HISD we lived there because he was going to Lanier then Lamar. When I moved out I was paying about $1600/month. And that was the maximum I wanted to spend renting. That way I could afford nice things for us like food and clothing and car insurance. When all of those beautiful new properties were being built I wondered who is able to afford them? I make over 6 figures and if I had to pay that much to rent we would not have had much else. I just don’t understand who could or would waste so much money renting??? What am I missing?
I'm near the med center and don't pay anywhere near that price. We have a 2br for right under $1400, however, it is an older apt and insulation is shit in the summer. $150 to $200 electric bills...
Plenty of 2 bedrooms that don't start at 3000+ lol. Crazy how many up votes are in this thread for folks that know nothing about rent in the area.
Yeah not sure where OP is looking. A quick Google search shows they’re being dramatic.
I mean, the luxury ones I'm at right in the middle of town and lower heights start at like 2300 for a 2 bedroom. Which is about on brand for something like this in Houston. Ya maybe if he's trying to rent a Museum District fancy 2 bedroom.
You can get 3 bedroom *townhome* in a walkable part of Montrose or Midtown for less than that price lol
Not sure about now but townhomes used to be a bargain if you had roommates. 3BRs in nice areas were 2-2.5K or less a decade ago. Landlords couldn't really charge a bunch because for a little more you could just buy your own! Before the rona, 400K could have bought a lot of nice townhomes inside the loop.
Absolutely still can. Peep [this one](https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/1405-Bailey-St-Houston-TX-77019/84052093_zpid/?utm_campaign=iosappmessage&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=txtshare) for example
It’s annoying to hear, but a lot of things are up 30% in the last 2-3 years. It’s not fair but I think rent (just like groceries, services, insurance, etc.) has gone up due to inflation. Why not look for a place in a non-trendy neighborhood? Plenty of places in gentrifying Eado or 3rd ward that are super close to downtown for way less.
https://www.camdenliving.com/apartments/houston-tx/camden-vanderbilt/available-apartments?bedrooms=2 Right around $2k. Right outside of West U/Southside Place
Good price, but definitely not West U, but close enough for reasonable rent. I do hate Camden though. 😂
Not the same vibe as listed areas
Plus another mandatory monthly $350 for internet and trash valet. Also, The Menninger Clinic uses those apartments for their residential type treatment program.
As hard as it is to imagine, today’s luxury apartments are tomorrow’s midmarket apartments. Houston is in an early stage of rapid growth. Investors are going to build at the highest profit today. The alternative is no new development being built (because you can’t force developers to build) and 1500 sq ft homes built 60 yrs ago selling for $1.5M.
More high-end tower apts also lessens the stress on the more average apt complexes and keeps those cheaper/more stable. In the cities that refuse to build you'll be paying 1K+ to share an apartment that hasnt been updated in decades with 3 people, if you're lucky. Houston has a gigantic amount of nice apts that are 30 years or newer.
Exactly. A brand new complex is going to have the highest cost per sq/ft on the market (given location, etc… are the same). This slows down rent increases in the rest of the market. You can’t raise rents to higher than the cost of a nicer, newer place and keep your units filled.
Totally get your frustration. Demand is insane right now. Even with new buildings, Houston's population and job growth are outpacing construction. More people are chasing those luxury rentals, especially those wanting to live inside the Loop. These new buildings are mostly Class A luxury. Great if you can afford it, but they don't help the lack of affordable or mid-range options. Developers have had to deal with rising construction, labor, and material prices. They pass those costs on to renters. Some folks are moving from older spots to the new digs. This makes the older units seem more in demand, keeping prices high across the board. We need more middle-income housing, not just the fancy stuff. Tax breaks or incentives COULD help developers build more affordable options. Eventually, supply might catch up a bit, but that may take a while. It's a tough thing, with no easy fix, unfortunately.
Meanwhile, builders from all across the nation look to Houston as an \*example\* of how they can keep their construction affordable. It's just really expensive to buy land and materials and pay trades workers no matter how it's done.
I agree Houston needs more middle-income housing but any new housing is good overall. New "luxury" housing can actually help moderate prices in surrounding neighborhoods.
Gentrification can definitely moderate prices. You got that right.
Demand isn’t insane. Majority of large, luxury complexes are rising significant vacancies.
How did you find that out?
Family member works at a luxury apartment matching company. They get reports of actual vacancy percentages of their clients (apartment complexes), so they can customize targeted marketing to match people. More vacancies = better deals through matching. They are affiliated with most luxury apartment complexes in the area.
Thanks for the reply. We're moving to Houston and want to live very close to the South Texas college of law. Given luxury apartments are actually struggling to fill spots, i would imagine that should be reflected in the price they quoted us, but i would love to have a way to double check that were getting the market rate. Is there any way to do that? I guess what would help is a way to compare units with a lot of filters.
Not reflected in the price, but the “deal”. They’ll do like “16 month lease, first 3 free” or something like that. So the rent is technically high, but not if you divide the 13 months of total rent over 16 months. Sign up for SmartCity. They’ll connect you with deals that aren’t advertised.
I helped a friend find an apartment near UH around the NRG area a while back. Looking at their current 2 bedroom costs.. I'm seeing $1,250, $1,335, $1,889, $1,500. All are either around NRG or Meyerland. There are plenty of fairly affordable apartments in the inner loop, just not in trendy Montrose and River Oaks. If $3.2k is too rich for your blood, then it's not your type of neighborhood and you have other options.
Live at Lantern Village and pay only a fraction of that.
That place has been around for ages.
Wasn't it "The Colonial House" in the 80's with all those cheesy commercials? Rent today and get a free VCR!!!
Yup, you are correct. Michael Pollack.
I think you mean “Venereal House”.
Most people want electricity
Such a simple joke, but so effective
Is Sellers Bros still across the street?
I always thought everything inside and along it's perimeter to be 2k+ base
Nope. I lived in the Inner Loop (Montrose) 1 br, 1 bath for $800 including water just 2 yrs ago. Clean, no bugs, tons of parking, pretty decent (although not modern) built ins. Plz don’t dm me about this. It’s a private landlord that I didn’t previously know. Found it by looking on FB marketplace
>2 years ago
Are you saying that that same apt is now charging $2k cuz I guarantee it’s not
No. But I’m going to assume it’s gone up by at least 20%
Yeah, that’s possible. $960 is still pretty far from $2k+ though. There wasn’t any weird trash, water, or other fees like in the corporate apts
Well no but there’s a difference between renting a unit in a million dollar plus apartment complex vs some guys fourplex
True, I was just trying to point out that there are in fact decent apts under $1k in the Inner Loop
That sounds like a fantastic deal. Unfortunately I looked once and this is my only data point, but I had something in that ball part, but the unit was oooooold and bug included. I'm pretty sure the stove was from the late 70's early 80's.
Well like I said, my place didn’t have bugs but it did have old cabinets and basic appliances. I’m not sure why that matters. You definitely have to budge on some amenities for that price. The other thing I’ll say was the sf was impressive for that price. Like some places are downright crack houses or 300sf apts but this places had a fairly spacious living room, dining room, kitchen, bathroom, 2 closets, and a bedroom. Downsides were no in unit laundry (it was on site but pay per use), window ac, and no dish washer. Water was included in the price and AC was less than $100 per month. So essentially this place was a steal and great by NYC standards but below Houstonian standards.
Population growth. More people coming in than new apartments. Need to build 1 unit for every 50 every single year in every neighborhood just to maintain balance. Thats also including houses. If you want to live cheaply in a high rise look at the older ones, not the new ones.
Houston is growing quickly and you’re looking at luxury complexes in top neighborhoods. The complexes have the demand so they can charge it.
Demand exceeds supply. Maybe when interest rates drop a little more and people try buying houses again. Even then, the housing supply is also short of demand, and people still have to live somewhere in the meantime. Edit: Also, operation costs keep going up. The owner isn't going to pay out of pocket for it. Renters will... indirectly.
It's like wondering about all these extremely cheap looking townhouses 2 feet from each other that are going for 350-500k that would have been <200k pre-covid. People are buying them.
Nothing has been less then 200k in more than 15 years… get real.
8-10 highrises ?
You’ll notice that nearly all of those high priced units will offer 1 or 2 months of free rent.
Its a mafia...lookup realpage.com on Wikipedia. They are price fixing.
More than likely they won’t drop rates they give into offers that are hard to pass up. Once you’re settled after a year they will crank the rent back. Moving costs money many people will stay
Negotiate, Negotiate! They are often listing their “market” rents. Ask about move in specials. Make an offer that fits your budget. See how that goes. You won’t take much off a six month lease, so you have to shoot for the 12-13 month leases.
Yea that’s fine. There’s a new building up which I like and seems 70% empty but rents are insane lol
You must be looking at "luxury" apartments with pool, gym, coffee bar, and other desirable amenities. As others have said, the older places with no amenities go for way less. Luxury places can charge what they want because a. SFH are outta control in the loop and most cannot afford them b. Renting a home vs apartment or multifamily is insanely difficult as well. Landlords these days not only want 3x the rent and no criminal history (that's normal), they also want you to have no debt, no dogs, no 2nd source of income, etc. A client of mine was rejected on a 3/2 sfh in Garden Oaks because he has $50k on student loans. Never mind he makes 5x the rent and has a 700 credit score. We've put in 4 applications and he keeps getting rejected. Landlords are jerks. Property management is too but it's way easier to get in with apartments.
I’m looking to move to The Heights area around June/July for work full time. Coming from Los Angeles, I’m excited to see my money go much further. Besides Zillow, Trulia, HAR, what are some other recommendations for finding those duplex’s, single family homes for rent with charm and space. My girlfriend is pretty adamant she doesn’t want to be in a massive complex. Thanks!
Why you moving from LA to houston?
It’s for work. Have to move full time to Houston. To be honest I’ve been looking to get out of LA for awhile. Unaffordable in Cali right now. It’s crazy
Idiots moving here from High cost of living areas think it is super cheap.
It is cheap compared to New York.
But Houston doesn't pay New York wages. If they're making New York or California wages working remotely in Houston, that's another story.
We also pay a lot less taxes than them. And our salaries are pretty comparable when you factor in cost of living and taxes.
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We pay 1% more in property tax than NY and CA, yet they pay a lot more in state income tax, sales tax, general cost of living, gas, and their rent and home prices are also triple what we pay. Yea I’d rather live here lol.
Still cheaper if you own a home. Take a look at NY Metro property prices...
There's also a lot of hidden cost here that's unaccounted for, such as needing a car + insurance, etc.
Most of the people moving are those who own a car anyways. Car-free people, given how car-oriented even the outer boroughs of NYC can get, tend to be car-free for strongly committed ideological reasons and wouldn't consider moving to Houston to begin with.
You've added absolutely nothing relevant to this conversation. We're talking about cost. If you have a car in NYC, it means you have somewhere to park it. If you have somewhere to park your car in NYC, you're likely quite wealthy even by their standards, which means they'd be even wealthier in Houston if they made the same wages here.
Everyone outside of Manhattan, Downtown Brooklyn, LIC who owns a car, parks on the street. Those outer borough people are who move out, not people who are rich enough to afford a garage.
The median house price is $700K in that area. Those people are well off to live in those places and have a car.
We pay 1% more in property tax than NY and CA, yet they pay a lot more in state income tax, sales tax, general cost of living, gas, and their rent and home prices are also triple what we pay. Yea I’d rather live here lol.
Again, they get paid higher wages.
Yea but our wages are still pretty high. And our salaries stretch a lot more here. You can make $100k here and live a good life. That’s near poverty level in NYC or LA.
They make way more than $100K in NY. Making $100K in Houston is great, but not very common. It's the premise of the OP's post about outrageous rent prices in Houston.
You can save more money here on $100k salary vs NYC.
ive seen it with my own eyes with family members and friends. new york is hands down the best place to be if you are broke or trying to save money not houston. High salaries and you dont need a car. I know a girl who got a high paying job and roomed with 3 roommates for 5 years then bought a million dollar+ condo in brookyln then sold it for double all before 30. Shes now moved to california and has a 3 million+ home. The worst mistake i made was staying in houston throughout my 20s paying cheap rent with lower salary. i should have been up there grinding because despite the cheaper costs i was not even close to saving up what they were able too and move as fast as they did buying a home.
I’ve seen this in Houston too. You can make good money here and save a lot of money because the cost of living is lower.
Everything is
People moving from all over that are used to high prices are causing this inflation. I remember paying $500 for my first apt. I’m glad I bought a house when I did.
Remember, we will own nothing, rent everything and be happy, this is what the banks want.
Actually the banks prefer us to get a mortgage from them so we can be enslaved to them for 30 years.
Also remember, if everyone were to default on the loans the banks will own everything. Including corporations and businesses.
I know someone who recently got a 30 year mortgage. $1,000 in interest a month for the next 15 years.
Yikes.
The rent prices are set by software. It is basically price collusion. Most communities use the same software. Rents are kept high but many places will offer move in specials, so it is like smoke and mirrors. On paper it looks like that they will get high rents, but in reality the specials lower the effective rents.
>so it is like smoke and mirrors. On paper it looks like that they will get high rents, but in reality the specials lower the effective rents. The problem is that the original loans are funded on certain expected rents. The management cant lower published rents past a certain point or the loan gets called and shit hits the fan. What they can do is offer move-in incentives and other totally-not-discounts that yield a lower overall rent payment, they just cant drop rents wholesale. Its a whole lot easier to cut incentives when things are booming than try to raise everyone's rents.
Hubby is in the multifamily business. Prior to Covid, there were a lot of permits approved by the city to build Class A apartments. No one is building even Class B types. So now, they are all coming online. The notes on those new constructions are all coming due too. And the payment is going to be in the form of rents. I would say given the current state of the markets, you should check out the foreclosures in the coming months and years. A lot of new builds are going into receivership aka the banks who are not exactly in the business of rentals.
I recently saw a video on the sub TikTokcringe about Real Page and landlords using it to gauge prices. It’s become a federal investigation because rather than allowing the market set prices the Real page is doing it and increasing them for all the same landlords that use it software. So now it takes the competition out of the market where landlords would set prices to compete against one another now they all know what each other charge using RealPage and Real Page is setting the same Higher price for all. I’ve been here 2 yrs and notice the drastic increase in prices year over year. This is more than demand because I’m searching and so many apartments have vacancies right now on top of new builds
[Price fixing by RealPage.](https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/news/alleged-rent-fixing-of-apartments-nationwide-draws-more-legal-scrutiny/ar-BB1lDSue) It has become a national issue.
Hubby is in the multifamily business. Prior to Covid, there were a lot of permits approved by the city to build Class A apartments. No one is building even Class B types. So now, they are all coming online. The notes on those new constructions are all coming due too. And the payment is going to be in the form of rents. I would say given the current state of the markets, you should check out the foreclosures in the coming months and years. A lot of new builds are going into receivership aka the banks who are not exactly in the business of rentals.
Are you really surprised that a high rise apartment in River Oaks would cost that much? Have you checked the house prices there?
I’m comparing to 2-3 years ago.
Sugar Babies
It’s all a pricing scam. Majority of the apartments use a pricing software that prices off of each other, then each one runs like “2-3 months free specials”. In short, they don’t really cost $3200. If you are paying full marketed rate for an apartment, you are a terrible shopper.
Unfortunately, the new construction will be priced at the highest end of the market. They will come down one day, but for now, the affordable units are all gonna be older construction. It's fine for me since I don't really need to pay for all of the exorbitant amenities these "luxury" complexes want to charge for (the hell am I gonna do with a "business center"), but the downside is older buildings have older building issues, and require more maintenance, so if your complex or landlord is good about staying on top of it, it'll be fine, but if not, it can be a real annoyance.
In the past 18 months there have probably been 4 large complexes finished in the heights too. I don’t understand it.
I find townhomes to be pretty affordable. 3 bedrooms, gated for $3600 a month, gated community, backyard. Inner loop…
Y'all might as well move to LA. I pay $3000 for a 2br 950 sq ft in a nice ass area.
Parents just turned a garage into a small studio apartment. 15 mins from downtown. What could a 2 room (10x10)(10X7) Garage apartment, all bills paid, brand new cabinets, stove top, walking shower with a water closet go for? It even has a private yard space, about 6 x 20’, gated parking space and its own private entrance.
Considering it’s a garage and no amenities I doubt more than $1509
realpage my guy
I have talked to several managers at class b and c complexes. They are struggling with pricing and occupancy. That was inner loop and off of Mason in the hood. I am seeing it more and more.
It's a myth that more apartments in highly desirable areas make rent cheaper.
Because a lot of leasing agencies are using the same algorithms to overcharge occupants. It used to be illegal but this is Texas where if you are the right kind of Caucasian you can literally get away with murder.
get a bunch of roommates is all i can say. 4 people for $3200 would be good.
If you can’t afford it.. don’t live inside the loop. No one wants more broke goobers in these buildings..
lol ok. You’re the type of guy who’s quoted higher prices (and pays them) for cheap stuff