Senior renters flock to Austin at record rate: Report

Think Austin apartment tenants are all twentysomething influencers and scooter scofflaws with plenty of bone density left to give? Or, to put it more plainly, young?

According to at least one study, you’d be wrong about that. Apartment listings site RentCafe (which gets its numbers from market analysis site YardiMatrix), the number of Austin renters over the age of 60, while still relatively small, is increasing faster than that of any other major U.S. city.

According to the report, Austin’s share of senior renters is a mere 12 percent, or 24,800 households over 60—the smallest among the country’s most populous cities.

Between 2007 and 2017, however, the number of older renter households increased a whopping 113 percent, the highest 10-year percentage jump in those same cities.

Nationally, the share of renters over the age of 60 is projected to keep growing; it was at 22 percent in 2017 and is expected to be 31% in 2035.

The segment of renters in other age groups is expected decrease, most significantly among those aged 34 and under. That share is projected to drop from its current 34% to 27% by 2035.