Houston multifamily market sees slump while jobs gain

​​​​​​​HOUSTON – Houston employers are starting to add more jobs outside of the energy industry, but it has yet to affect the market for Houston apartments.

Even though 19,600 Houston-area jobs were created in the 12 months ending in August, annual effective rent growth continued to slide, reaching -3.1 percent in September.

“Job gains may be picking up month-over-month, but they are nowhere near what they were even a year ago,” said Stephanie McCleskey, vice president of research for Axiometrics. “We see the diminished demand not only in the negative rent growth, but in occupancy rates, which were the lowest they’ve been since April 2012.”

The data refer to Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA).

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