Houston Multifamily Report – Summer 2020
With rents softening and transactions volume down, the metro faces another uphill battle toward recovery.
Houston has weathered several challenges over the last decade, but the pandemic-driven economic dislocation may pose increasing difficulties on the path to a full recovery. Overall rents in Houston started to contract in December 2019, and remained in the negative range in subsequent months. As of August, rents were down 0.1 percent on a trailing three-month basis, at $1,108, behind the $1,463 national figure.
READ THE FULL YARDI MATRIX REPORT
The health crisis has cost the metro more than 365,000 jobs and only some 110,000 were recovered through September, based on Texas Workforce Commission data analyzed by the Greater Houston Partnership. While oil and gas jobs were already at their lowest level in 15 years at the onset of COVID-19, energy job losses were mitigated by gains in finance, professional services and health care. The Houston region has received more than $9.4 billion in Paycheck Protection Program funding, supporting more than 700,000 jobs, according to U.S. Treasury Department data.
As construction was deemed an essential service during shelter-in-place orders, developers were able to press on, and added 8,061 units to inventory year-to-date through August. Another 27,000 apartments were under development as of August. More than $1.3 billion in multifamily assets traded in 2020 through August—a 53 percent decline compared to the same interval last year.