Cough It Up
Austin rent is highest in state and it's only getting higher
If it seems like the rent is getting too damn high in Austin, take solace in the fact that we only had the sixth largest increase in rent from 2013 to 2014 in the country, according to real estate site Zillow.
The company looked at the number of renter households and rent paid among 50 major U.S. markets in 2013 and 2014 to determine how renting rates were increasing as 41 million American renting households spent $441 billion on rent last year.
Rent increased 9.5 percent year-to-year in Austin, making it far and away the largest increase in Texas' four major cities.
According to the numbers, rent increased 9.5 percent year-to-year in Austin, making it far and away the largest increase in Texas' four major cities. Houston was a not-so-close second at 7.2 percent.
What's more, Austinites are paying more for rent per capita than Dallas, San Antonio or Houston residents, at more than $12,000 per year. Dallas and Houston hover just over $10,500 while San Antonio rent is right around $9,600.
This comes on the news that Austin had the 27th largest number of households at 290,000 and spent the 25th most money on rent at $3.507 billion in 2014 — up from 285,000 households and $3.202 billion the year before.
Overall, Dallas has the largest number of renters in Texas and fourth-highest in the nation. Houston comes in fifth.
As for rent increase, at least Austin isn't yet San Jose, California, where rent grew 14.4 percent or San Francisco, which had a 13.5 percent increase. Birmingham had the third highest increase, with Denver and Pittsburgh coming in fourth and fifth.
So, it could be worse. Just not here in Texas.