Sky is the limit, Texas multifamily going UP

Uptown/Downtown Dallas: Over 4,600 multifamily units are under construction in this popular area of Big D—29 percent of all apartment construction in town. Moreover, 65 percent of the Uptown/Downtown construction pipeline consists of high-rises. Dallas has yet to be a high-rise market, but by 2019, Dallas will boast a much different skyline.

Downtown Houston: Once a submarket struggling to stay alive after five, the Downtown Living Initiative along with key quality of life projects (like the 12-acre park, Discovery Green) have changed the way Houstonians utilize the CBD. With the Downtown Living Initiative granting apartment developers $15,000 per unit in tax abatements to facilitate residential construction, there are more units under construction downtown than existing units, which means the market size will double by 2017.

Downtown Austin: As tech companies flock to Austin’s CBD, the increase in young talent has created opportunity for multifamily developers, who have doubled the number of units in the CBD in the last 11 years. Class A properties downtown have more than tripled since 2004 and rents have jumped 35 percent in five years. The next generation of Texans (millennials) currently make up 40 percent of CBD residents—a number projected to increase to 53 percent by 2020.