Apartments Overbuilt in Austin
My observations were confirmed! Apartments are being overbuilt in Austin, as indicated in an August report by Mark Doutzer, Texas A&M Economist.
Last year, I noticed an unprecedented amount of new apartment buildings going up. I didn’t have any hard numbers to go by, but it just seemed like the construction was getting out of control.
The economics reports stated that we would have 3.5% job growth in the coming year and that tenants would lease a net gain of 4,600 units between August 2007 and August 2008. However, only 1,233 were filled as many tenants doubled up to save money.
2009 job growth is now fore-casted at 1.1% and with construction loans drying up, perhaps it’s best that some of the overbuilding has been curbed.
New home building has also slowed and is not expected to pick up until the fall of 2009. So, maybe I’ll get to enjoy some of the remaining trees just a little longer.
