Sell Your Commercial Property Fast In Austin, TX

Who rents in Austin

Austin is a majority-renter city with high incomes. The Census Bureau's 2020–2024 American Community Survey counts 979,539 residents in 456,113 occupied homes, and 257,933 of those homes, or 56.6%, are rented. The city's median household income is $93,658, the highest of the large Texas cities we cover.

That combination reflects who moves to Austin. The University of Texas at Austin, state government offices around the Capitol and a technology sector that includes Tesla, Apple and Dell all draw salaried workers, many of whom rent, at least when they first arrive. Unlike many Texas cities, Austin's renters can generally afford higher rents: 46.3% of renter households pay 30% or more of income on gross rent, the lowest share among the large Texas cities on our site, though that still means nearly half are cost-burdened, and 21.7% pay half or more.

Renter profiles vary sharply across the areas named on our Austin page. ACS data shows San Marcos, home to Texas State University, at 69.2% renters with a median household income of $51,281, and 61.9% of its renters cost-burdened. Round Rock sits at 44.5% renters with a median income of $99,287. Pflugerville leans heavily toward ownership, at 30.1% renters and a median income of $117,799.

Rents and affordability

Median gross rent in Austin is $1,729 a month, well above Houston, Dallas and San Antonio. ACS table B25031 shows the city's medians by unit size, and the suburbs differ by more than $600 at the median:

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-year estimates 2020–2024, via Census Reporter for Austin and for Round Rock, Pflugerville and San Marcos.

Inside the city, the median is $1,427 for a studio, $1,544 for a one-bedroom, $1,845 for a two-bedroom and $2,202 for a three-bedroom. Each step up in size adds between $117 and $357, a wider ladder than in Houston or Dallas. That gives owners of buildings with larger floor plans more room to price, and it makes small efficiencies relatively less valuable.

San Marcos is the outlier. Its median rent of $1,322 is about $400 below Austin's, but its renters are the most stretched of any city on our Austin page, a pattern consistent with a large student population. In Round Rock and Pflugerville, 48.8% of renters in each city pay 30% or more of income on rent, slightly above Austin's 46.3% despite higher household incomes, because their rents are higher too.

The apartment stock

Austin has 483,071 housing units, and ACS table B25024 shows 208,961 of them, or 43.3%, in buildings with five or more units. The breakdown is 29,825 units in 5–9 unit buildings, 53,048 in 10–19 unit buildings, 41,668 in 20–49 unit buildings and 84,420 in complexes of 50 or more. Table B25032 shows 180,523 renter households, or 70.0% of Austin renters, living in 5+ unit buildings, while only 14.1% rent detached houses.

Large complexes carry the market. Some 72,586 renter households, 28.1% of all Austin renters, live in buildings of 50 or more units, and another 46,290 live in 10–19 unit buildings. The 5–9 unit segment, where individual and family owners are most common, houses 26,152 renter households. Those small buildings are often in older central neighborhoods, where land value can be a large part of what a buyer is paying for.

Austin's stock is young by Texas standards. The median year built is 1994, and 26.3% of all units were built in 2010 or later: 103,591 in the 2010s and 23,292 in 2020 or later. Only 28.3% predate 1980. That newer supply is the main competitive pressure on older buildings. A 1970s or 1980s complex in East Austin or along the older corridors competes with new buildings that offer amenities, so it has to win on price and location. The 1970s and 1980s together still account for 144,400 units, 29.9% of the stock, which is where most small and mid-size apartment trades happen.

The suburbs are newer still. Round Rock's median year built is 2002 and Pflugerville's is 2004, so a buyer there is usually choosing among 1990s-and-later garden properties.

Property taxes on apartment buildings in Travis County

Texas has no state property tax. As the Comptroller explains, each county appraisal district values property and local governments set rates. An Austin apartment building pays the city, Travis County, a school district, Austin Community College, the Central Health hospital district and any special districts on the same market value, which the Travis Central Appraisal District sets each year.

For the city's share, the council's amended fiscal 2025–2026 budget uses a property tax rate of 52.4017 cents per $100 of assessed value. A year earlier the rate was $0.4776, according to the ballot language for Proposition Q, the November 2025 measure that asked voters to approve $0.574017, five cents above the voter-approval rate. For owners, the lesson is that a city rate can move several cents in one year. On a building appraised at $2 million, the move from $0.4776 to $0.524017 adds about $930 a year in city tax alone, before any change in appraised value, and the school district rate on the same bill is usually larger. Buyers will model both the rate and the value at their purchase price, so a recent jump in either one tends to show up in offers.

Texas offers income property one limit. Under Tax Code § 23.231, non-homestead real property at or below an indexed threshold ($5 million for 2024) can have its appraised value rise no more than 20% a year plus new improvements. The cap starts only after the owner has held the property on January 1 of a prior tax year and it ends when ownership transfers, so it does not follow a building to a buyer. Owners can protest each year; the Comptroller puts the deadline generally at May 15 or 30 days after notice delivery, whichever is later.

Landlord rules

Austin cannot impose rent control. Local Government Code § 214.902 allows a city to adopt it only after finding a disaster-related housing emergency, and only with the governor's approval.

State law sets the main tenancy rules. Landlords must refund security deposits within 30 days of the tenant surrendering the unit under Property Code § 92.103, and bad-faith retention can cost $100, three times the amount withheld and attorney's fees under § 92.109. Before filing an eviction for default, a landlord must give at least three days' written notice to vacate unless the lease sets another period, under § 24.005.

What this means if you own a building here

An Austin seller has a high-income, majority-renter market behind the building, but also the most new-construction competition of any large Texas city. Buyers will compare your in-place rents to nearby new product and to the city medians above, and they will reprice taxes from the purchase price because the § 23.231 limit ends at sale. Older properties in East Austin and the older inner-ring neighborhoods attract buyers who plan renovations; newer suburban properties in Round Rock and Pflugerville trade more on in-place income.

Before talking to buyers, collect three years of appraisal notices and protest results, a current rent roll with concessions shown, and a list of capital work completed. Our apartment building value calculator and capital gains tax calculator can help frame the decision. Skyline Capital Investments buys 5+ unit buildings in Austin, Round Rock, Pflugerville and San Marcos, and our seller page explains our process.