Invest In Apartment Buildings In Texas

Why Texas Has So Many Renters

Texas has 4,113,561 renter households, 37.4% of occupied homes, in a state of 30,188,424 people (U.S. Census ACS 2020–2024). Renter households grew 11.6% over five years, almost twice as fast as the 6.8% population gain. Median gross rent is $1,403 a month against a median household income of $78,476. Rent rose 34.3% from $1,045 in the 2015–2019 survey while incomes rose 26.8%, and 51.7% of renter households now spend 30% or more of income on housing.

Job growth has been spread across several large metros instead of one. Employment rose 8.9% over the five-year Census period. Manufacturing investment has added new centers of demand: within eight days in November 2021, Texas Instruments announced a $30 billion chip fabrication complex in Sherman, Samsung picked Taylor for a $17 billion chip plant expected to employ more than 2,000 people, and Tesla's Austin Gigafactory was estimated at $1.1 billion. Those projects pull renters toward the edges of the big metros, not just their downtowns. Growth has cooled, though. The Texas Real Estate Research Center reported in April 2026 that international migration into Texas fell 53% and domestic migration fell 22% through summer 2025.

For apartment owners, scale is the cushion. The Dallas Fed noted that Texas absorbed more than 15% of all U.S. apartment demand in 2025, even as migration slowed, so a soft year here still means a lot of new leases.

The Texas Supply Wave And State Rules

Texas has a large and fairly young apartment stock. Buildings with five or more units hold 2,519,360 homes, 20.8% of the housing stock, up 15.2% in five years (U.S. Census ACS 2020–2024). The median home was built in 1992. Census rental vacancy is 7.7%, a figure that counts houses and small rentals, so it differs from managed-property occupancy. HUD's FY2027 two-bedroom Fair Market Rents run from $1,014 to $1,817 across 254 HUD areas.

That growth came with a glut. RealPage said Texas completions averaged more than 23,000 units a quarter through much of 2024 and 2025, and expected about 11,700 a quarter in early 2026, roughly half the pace. The Texas Real Estate Research Center estimated about 135,000 unleased units left over from the cycle, with Austin holding about 30,000 of them. Owners have answered with concessions, sometimes several months of free rent, and the Dallas Fed described three straight years of falling rents across the state. For a buyer, that means pricing a deal on today's effective rents, not the asking rents of 2022, while the drop in starts sets up a tighter market once the backlog clears.

State rules lean toward owners. Texas has no personal income tax, and the Texas Government Code bars cities and counties from establishing rent control. Senate Bill 38, which took effect January 1, 2026, sped up evictions: trials happen 10 to 21 days after filing, landlords can ask for summary judgment when the facts aren't disputed, tenants keep paying rent during an appeal, and local courts can't add their own steps. Property tax is the big cost. Appraisal districts value property every year, and a 20% annual cap on taxable value increases for non-homestead property up to about $5.32 million in 2026 expires December 31, 2026, after the 2025 Legislature didn't renew it. Large apartment buildings already sit above that value limit, but buyers of smaller apartment syndications in Texas should budget for a reset.

Texas Metros And Regions We Watch

The big four metros hold most of the state's apartments, and each came through the supply wave differently.

How Texas Ranks For Apartment Investors

We track 47 states where we invest. Texas places 16th for median gross rent, 5th for renter share and 14th for five-year rent growth. Its rents fall in the middle of the pack. In raw numbers, Texas has about 1,927,568 more residents, 427,574 more renter households and 332,416 more homes in buildings with 5 or more units than in the 2015–2019 survey. Growth in renter households and new apartment homes has been roughly in balance.

Largest Texas Apartment Markets

Dallas–Fort Worth is the largest of the 133 Texas cities we follow. Here are the ten biggest by population, with median gross rent and renter share from the Census Bureau's ACS 2020–2024 estimates.

Can Tenants Afford Texas Rents?

The median rent in Texas works out to $16,836 a year, about 21.5% of the median household income of $78,476. Under the common 30% guideline, a household needs about $56,100 a year to cover that rent comfortably. Renters usually earn less than the all-household median, so the real burden for tenants is higher than this simple ratio shows.

Since the 2015–2019 survey, the median rent rose $358 a month ($4,296 a year), while median household income rose $16,586 a year. Rent has outpaced income, so we are careful about how much further a business plan pushes rents on renewal.

Texas Rental Market In Numbers

If you only read one part of this page, read this list. Every figure is from the Census Bureau's ACS 5-year estimates.

• Texas has 30,188,424 residents, up 6.8% from the 2015–2019 survey (U.S. Census ACS 2020–2024).
• Median household income in Texas is $78,476, up 26.8% over five years (U.S. Census ACS 2020–2024).
• Median gross rent in Texas is $1,403 a month, up 34.3% over five years (U.S. Census ACS 2020–2024).
• 37.4% of households in Texas rent, about 4,113,561 renter households (U.S. Census ACS 2020–2024).
• 20.8% of homes in Texas are in buildings with 5 or more units (U.S. Census ACS 2020–2024).
• The rental vacancy rate in Texas is 7.7%, and 51.7% of renters spend 30% or more of income on rent (U.S. Census ACS 2020–2024).
• The median home in Texas was built in 1992 (U.S. Census ACS 2020–2024).

What We Look For In Texas

Our buy box in Texas is the same one we use nationwide: 5+ unit apartment buildings, stabilized or in need of work, priced on today's rents. Then we test the property against the local data on this page and a full inspection of its major systems.

Texas has no state income tax on wages, and property taxes are often one of the largest expenses for apartment owners. We underwrite the tax bill after purchase, not the seller's current bill, since a sale often resets the assessment. Texas has no statewide rent control law, though local rules on notices, fees and deposits still apply. Insurance quotes in Texas reflect hurricane and flood exposure and hail and wind damage, so we get a quote before we make an offer.

Given how fast rents rose here, we assume much slower rent growth going forward and make sure the deal still works if rents stay flat for a while.

Evaluating Apartment Syndications In Texas

The data on this page turns into a short checklist for evaluating an apartment syndication in Texas.

• What vacancy does the plan assume? Rental vacancy in Texas is 7.7%. A plan that assumes much lower vacancy than the market should explain why.
• What rent growth is underwritten? Rents here rose 34.3% over five years. Ask whether the plan assumes that pace continues, and what happens to the deal if rents stay flat.
• How was the property tax bill estimated? A sale often triggers a reassessment, so the bill after purchase can be well above what the seller pays today.
• How big is the repair reserve? The median home in Texas was built in 1992, and even newer buildings need money set aside for roofs, HVAC and appliances.
• How will the building compete with new supply? Homes in 5+ unit buildings in Texas rose 15.2% over five years, so newer properties are part of the competition.
• How and when does capital come back? Ask what the plan is for a refinance or sale, and what happens if that takes longer than expected.

How Passive Investing In A Texas Apartment Syndication Works

Here's the short version. The general partner, in this case Skyline, finds an apartment building in Texas, buys it with a loan and investor capital, and runs it. Limited partners supply part of that capital and hold an ownership share, without landlord duties or personal liability for the loan.

Expect your money to be tied up for years, with no easy way to sell your share early, and remember that any investment can lose money. Most deals are open only to accredited investors under Rule 506(b) or 506(c). See investing with Skyline Capital for how we work with limited partners.

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