Sell Your Commercial Property Fast In Houston, TX

Who rents in Houston

Houston is the largest renter market in Texas, with far more renter households than Dallas, San Antonio or Austin. The Census Bureau's 2020–2024 American Community Survey counts 2,328,253 residents in 930,404 occupied homes, and 538,885 of those homes, or 57.9%, are rented. Median household income in the city is $64,813, and median gross rent is $1,361 a month.

Two economic anchors shape that renter base. The Texas Medical Center describes itself as the largest medical complex in the world, with more than 120,000 employees, about 10 million patient encounters a year and $4 billion in construction projects under way. It calls itself the eighth-largest business district in the U.S. Hospital work runs around the clock, which favors rental housing within a short commute of the campus.

The second anchor is the port and the energy and petrochemical complex along the Houston Ship Channel. Port Houston reports that it was the top-ranked U.S. port for foreign waterborne tonnage in 2024, at 220.1 million short tons, and a 2026 economic study released by the port says port activity supports about 1.89 million jobs in Texas. Ship Channel employment adds rental demand on the east side and in Pasadena, one of the areas named on our Houston page.

Rents and affordability

Houston's median gross rent of $1,361 is low for a city of its size, and the bedroom ladder is flat at the bottom. ACS table B25031 shows:

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-year estimates 2020–2024, via Census Reporter. A one-bedroom rents for only $12 more than a studio at the median, while a two-bedroom adds $231 and a three-bedroom another $313. Pasadena's overall median is lower than Houston's, at $1,213. Older buildings with a high share of efficiencies and small one-bedrooms therefore compete mostly on price.

The ceiling on rent growth is income. In Houston, 51.5% of renter households pay 30% or more of income on gross rent, and 26.0% pay half or more, per table B25070. Those burdens show up as collection risk and turnover at Class C properties, where small rent increases can push a household into arrears. Pasadena is similar: its median household income is $64,927, its renter share is 45.5% and 50.4% of its renters are cost-burdened.

The apartment stock

Houston has 1,040,576 housing units, and ACS table B25024 shows 463,035 of them, or 44.5%, in buildings with five or more units. Large complexes dominate: 212,461 units are in buildings of 50 or more, while 72,756 are in 5–9 unit buildings, 109,206 in 10–19 unit buildings and 68,612 in 20–49 unit buildings. According to table B25032, 375,285 renter households, or 69.6% of Houston renters, live in 5+ unit buildings, and a third of all renters, 33.5%, live in complexes of 50 or more units.

The city's apartment inventory reflects its 1970s growth. Of all housing units, 192,199, or 18.5%, were built in the 1970s, more than in any other decade, and 47.0% of units predate 1980. The median year built is 1982. Only 16.8% of units were built in 2010 or later. Older garden complexes in areas such as Alief belong to this generation of building, and they make up much of the city's value-add trade. Buyers price in the cost of roofs, plumbing, electrical systems and, after recent storms, drainage and flood mitigation.

Pasadena's stock is older still, with a median year built of 1977, and 30.5% of its homes are in 5+ unit buildings. Spring and Katy, also named on our page, sit largely outside the city limits, so the city figures here do not describe them.

New construction has been steady but modest relative to the base. The 2010s added 150,716 units, 14.5% of today's stock, and 24,588 units, or 2.4%, were built in 2020 or later. With so little recent supply relative to the base, most older buildings compete mainly with other older buildings on price and upkeep. Single-family rentals are a second source of competition: 86,086 renter households, 16.0% of the total, rent detached houses, per table B25032.

Property taxes on apartment buildings in Harris County

Texas has no state property tax. The Comptroller explains that each county's appraisal district values property and local units set rates, so a Houston apartment owner pays the city, Harris County, a school district and several special districts on the same appraised value. Apartments are appraised at market value each year by the Harris Central Appraisal District, with no reduced assessment ratio for rental property.

For the city's share, the City of Houston's 2025 tax rate notice proposes a city rate of $0.519190 per $100 of value. The school district, county, hospital district, flood control district, port authority and community college levies are added on top, and they vary by parcel. The school district is usually the largest single line, so two similar buildings on either side of a district boundary can carry very different bills. Check the parcel's full rate list with the county tax office before relying on a broker's pro forma.

The state's only limit for income property is Tax Code § 23.231. For non-homestead real property at or below an indexed value threshold ($5 million for 2024), appraised value can rise no more than 20% a year plus new improvements. The limit starts only after an owner has held the property on January 1 of a prior tax year and ends on a sale, so most large Houston complexes fall outside it, and a buyer of a smaller building loses it at closing. Owners can protest each year, generally by May 15 or 30 days after notice delivery, whichever is later, per the Comptroller and Tax Code § 41.44.

Landlord rules

Houston cannot adopt ordinary rent control. Local Government Code § 214.902 allows it only after a city finds a disaster-related housing emergency and the governor approves the ordinance, and it ends with the disaster declaration.

Tenancies are governed by state law. Under Property Code § 92.103, a landlord has 30 days after the tenant surrenders the unit to refund the deposit, and § 92.109 sets bad-faith liability at $100, three times the wrongly withheld amount and attorney's fees. A landlord must give at least three days' written notice to vacate before filing an eviction for default, unless the lease sets another period, under § 24.005.

What this means if you own a building here

Houston combines a very large renter pool with low rents, a high rent burden and an old, large-complex stock. For a seller, that means the story a buyer wants is collections, occupancy and capital condition, not rent upside. Taxes will be reassessed toward the purchase price, so your current tax line will not carry over. Have your appraisal history, protest results, flood and insurance claims history, and a current rent roll ready.

Unit mix also matters in pricing. Because a one-bedroom earns barely more than a studio at the median while each additional bedroom above that adds $193 to $313, buildings with more two- and three-bedroom units carry higher revenue per door. In a market where half of renters are cost-burdened, buyers also look closely at how many tenants are on payment plans, how many units turned over in the last year, and what concessions were needed to fill them.

You can test pricing with our cap rate calculator, and see how net operating income drives value. Skyline Capital Investments buys 5+ unit buildings across Houston and Harris County, including Alief, Spring, Pasadena and Katy, listed or off-market, and our seller page explains how we underwrite.