Texas Apartment Boom Poised to Continue as Tech Giants Relocate from California

Strong points:

• Recently announced moves by Tesla, Oracle and HPE from California to Texas are expected to trigger an increase in demand for apartments.
• There are 126,900 apartments currently under construction in Texas, most of which are in the Dallas subway, 49,000.
• In the past decade, half a million new apartments have been built in Texas over the past decade; The Dallas metro leads with 177,400.

Amid the so-called Bay Area exodus, Silicon Valley is rapidly losing ground as the country’s primary technological trading link. The new promised land? Texas.

Already claiming one of the fastest growing jobs in the United States., Texas expected to welcome an influx of talent generated by new job openings and offshoring. And, while the last year made remote working more popular than ever, many tech-savvy Californians could follow their businesses. For example, while Tesla moves to Texas and Elon Musk himself trades the LA lifestyle for Texas, many others are also considering relocating – meaning Texas has to be prepared to show them Southern hospitality. But, is the Lone Star State ready to welcome those who wish to relocate?

To find out, we turned to Yardi Matrix apartment data to see what Texas has to offer its potential new tenants, and what life in Texas could be like.

New apartment construction thrives on major Texas subways

Texas is more than ready to welcome new residents looking for new opportunities. Specifically, the state has 126,900 apartments under construction – this in addition to its current status as a national leader in apartment construction for years. Building new homes at a fast pace is the secret to keeping the cost of living under control. But what makes the Lone Star State so special in this regard? “Texas has the clear advantage in land use,” says Doug Ressler, head of business intelligence at Yardi Matrix. “What’s great is that it has adequate availability to support population growth and migration, from dense cores to available exurban or suburban areas.”

For example, the Dallas The metropolitan area has no less than 49,000 apartments under construction – the tallest of any Texas subway – with 11,400 new apartments to be delivered in Dallas itself. And just in time too! In 2019, financial services giant Charles Schwab, among others, said he was coming to Dallas. Additionally, just a few months ago, real estate brokerage firm CBRE announced that it would be moving its global headquarters from Los Angeles to Dallas.

Meanwhile, the Austin metro is building 31,000 apartments, 22,600 of which are located in the city of Austin – the most to be delivered in any city in Texas. Between Oracle setting up a camp here and a new one Tesla branch would create 5,000 jobs, they couldn’t come earlier. Although Tesla and SpaceX are still headquartered in California, Musk’s expansion in the Austin area comes with an area of ​​4-5 million square feet. facility worthy of a newly established technological hub.

Not to be outdone, the Houston the metro has 28,600 apartments to come. Named one of the most popular places for corporate relocation and office expansion, the city of Houston in particular has 17,400 apartments under construction, worthy of HPE’s new global headquarters.

In addition, the Saint Anthony the metro will accommodate 10,900 new apartments. One of the fastest growing startup ecosystems in the country, San Antonio proper currently has 9,300 apartments underway.

The last decade has brought half a million new apartments to Texas

Between 2010 and 2020, the State enriched its inventory with nearly 2,000 new apartment buildings, housing a huge 503,300 apartments through its subways.

Once again, the Dallas metro led the pack with the most apartment deliveries in the past decade – a total of 177,400 apartments, including 52,600 rental apartments in Dallas alone. According to Computer Technology Industry Association (CompTIA), Dallas is 2 years old^nd only in Austin for professionals and tech companies, surpassing the 7^e place he held a year ago, mainly due to a large number of IT jobs available. “The technical hubs and information centers already present in every major city in Texas only enhance current and future job growth.” Ressler said. “Tech companies ultimately assess and select alternative sites based on cost and capital creation.”

The next step is Houston metro with 131,300 apartments built over the past decade. The city of Houston is in fact the city in Texas with the most apartments built since 2010 – 73,000. Already a major recruiting center, Houston is now the new global headquarters of HPE, one of the founding companies of Silicon. Valley with 59,400 employees.

Further north, the Austin metro delivered 85,900 apartments between 2010 and 2020, including 57,200 in Austin itself. According to CompTIA, Austin was named America’s Best Tech City for the second year in a row. Home to Silicon Hills, the cluster of tech companies already established here, Austin ranked 1^st even when considering remote work adjustments.

Especially, suburb of texas has also grown exponentially in recent years, with outlying areas offering the best of both worlds for tenants, such as good Wi-Fi speed and cool amenities away from the noisy city center. In fact, a recent RENTCafé report cited 8 Texas cities in the top 20 US suburbs that have built the most apartments in the past 5 years.

What type of rental will newcomers to Texas find?

Not surprisingly, living in Texas is easier on the wallet than in Silicon Valley. As such, California tech professionals keen on relocating will have no problem finding suitable accommodations here. Even if they are not the richest person in the worldTexas still has plenty of attractive locations. In fact, there are many high-end apartments with amenities that make it easy to trade the West Coast lifestyle – perfect for a crowd looking for fast Wi-Fi, energy efficiency, spacious floor plans with fresh finishes and even private unit entrances.

To this end, the Dallas region has the choice of the most upscale apartments – 389,600, followed by 303,800 in the Houston metro and 157,400 apartments in the Austin area. This selection provides a wider range of choices for newcomers who may be looking for gym, business center and pool privileges among other comfortable amenities, such as quick access to a community dog ​​park.

At city level, Houston (186,300 apartments), Austin (114,500) and Dallas (113,800) offer the most upscale apartments to those looking for comfort and exclusive amenities. Or, for those who need a lot of space, smaller towns that tend to offer more square footage – like San Marcos (997 square feet), Pearland (990 square feet) and Cypress (984 square feet) – might be the best places to live in Texas.

Apartments in Texas offer great value for money. For example, around $ 1,600 gives you a high end 2 bedrooms 2 bathrooms rentals in Austin, Dallas, Houston, San Antonio and Fort Worth. Or for $ 1,800 average, you can hire a 3 bedrooms 2 bathrooms apartment in upscale apartment buildings in one of these great Texas cities. It should also be noted that the Brownsville The area, home to a new Tesla supercharging facility, has the state’s smallest high-end apartment rent: just $ 928 per month.

With the downside of business travel in the face of restrictions and the endless need for a tech-savvy workforce, it’s easy to see why employees would move for a company, even when they had a remote option. Companies like Oracle now have work policies that, along with greater WFH flexibility, allow their employees to choose their preferred office location.

If anything, 2020 has proven that we can keep the ball moving no matter the location. But it’s natural to always want to be close to the action. And Texas is slowly consolidating its status as one of the top busiest corporate moving destinations.

Methodology:

RENTCafé is a nationwide apartment search website that makes it easy for renters to find apartments and houses for rent across the United States. Data on apartments and rents was provided by our sister company, Yardi Matrix, a business development and asset management tool for brokers, sponsors, banks and equity sources underwriting investments in multi-family, office, industrial and self-storage sectors.

The report is based exclusively on apartment data related to large buildings of 50 units or more. Numbers have been rounded and focus on Texas Metropolitan Statistical Areas, excluding Micropolitan Statistical Areas, such as Kingsville, Corsicana, and Waco. Top of the range refers to in-class apartments A and class B +.