Austin rents held steady in 2017

As is the case with cities in most parts of the country, Austin’s rents declined slightly over the fall and winter, according to recent analysis reported on Apartment List’s “Rentomics” blog.

However, the city’s median rent prices continue to be less affordable than those of comparable cities nationwide, according to the report. Austin's median two-bedroom rent is current $1,380 per month, while the national average is $1,160.

While rents in Austin did decline -0.3%. over the past month—an expected seasonal drop—they remained flat overall in 2017. Nationally, by contrast, rents have grown by 2.7% over the past year, and the nine other largest cities in Texas saw rent increases averaging 2.5% during that time.

Plano, Texas, with a median two-bedroom rent of $1,410, was the only city in the state with higher rents than those in Austin. (Houston rents spiked after Tropical Storm Katrina flooded the city, but the increases drove the rates up to around the national average.) Austin rent for December was the fifth-highest on the study’s charts, coming in behind San Francisco, New York, Seattle, and Washington, D.C.