Mapped: Austin’s rents skyrocketing where?

AUSTIN – Median rents for homes and apartments just north of Circle C Ranch in Southwest Austin increased 110 percent between 2010 and 2012, from $761 to $1,604.

That is the greatest percentage rent increase in the entire Austin area since 2010, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

In 2010, average median gross rent per Census tract was $985. The 25 percent of Census tracts where rent grew fastest saw average median rents of $914 in 2010, almost 7.3 percent lower than the regional average. Their average median gross rents jumped more than 22 percent by 2012, an average increase of $199 and almost 2.5 times the 6.2 percent regional average median rental growth rate.

The highest-quartile tracts for median gross rent increases also saw the median number of rooms per housing unit shrink by 1.4 percent, contrary to the average 0.8 percent growth seen throughout the region.

The lowest quartile of median gross rent growth tracts — roughly 88 Census tracts where rent grew the least — saw the average median rent per tract for this group declined $52, or roughly 5 percent, from $1,085 to $1,033. That is a rate roughly 1.7 times slower than the region average.

The bottom quarter of Austin’s Census tracts entered 2010 with average median gross rents 10 percent higher than average. They were larger, with an average 11 percent more rooms per housing unit in the overall housing stock. These tracts also have significantly less renter-occupied housing units, 40 percent below average in 2010, and 33 percent below average in 2012.

The Austin Business Journal has mapped the tracts where rent increases between 2010 and 2012 were the greatest, colored from blue on the low end to red on the high end.

The map data is based on the 2010, 2011 and 2012 American Community Survey’s five-year estimates. Michael Theis is the Austin Business Journal’s digital editor.