Sell Your Commercial Property Fast In San Antonio, TX

Who rents in San Antonio

San Antonio is close to evenly split between owners and renters. The Census Bureau's 2020–2024 American Community Survey counts 1,479,835 residents in 554,581 occupied homes, of which 265,201, or 47.8%, are rented. Median household income is $65,056, and median gross rent is $1,324 a month.

The military is the city's most distinctive source of renters. The Texas Comptroller reports that, as of 2023, Joint Base San Antonio had 67,350 direct employees, of whom 32,333 were active-duty military personnel. Service members who live off base, civilian employees and contractors all draw on the rental market. Because personnel are reassigned on a regular cycle, owners of buildings near the base's Lackland, Randolph and Fort Sam Houston locations plan for turnover tied to military moves. That turnover adds make-ready and vacancy costs, and buyers look for it in the trailing operating history.

Healthcare is the second anchor. The South Texas Medical Center on the northwest side, named on our San Antonio page as the Medical Center area, concentrates hospital, clinic and research jobs, and the city's cybersecurity and financial-services employers add salaried workers to the renter pool. Demand from those employers is less tied to the military calendar, which balances the turnover pattern in neighborhoods near the bases.

Rents and affordability

San Antonio rents are low for a large Texas city. ACS table B25031 puts median gross rent at $1,096 for a studio, $1,136 for a one-bedroom, $1,385 for a two-bedroom and $1,626 for a three-bedroom. The suburbs named on our page cost more:

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-year estimates 2020–2024, via Census Reporter for San Antonio and for New Braunfels and Converse.

The gap between San Antonio and its suburbs, more than $300 a month at the median, lines up with newer housing. New Braunfels's median year built is 2006 and Converse's is 2003, against 1985 in San Antonio. Suburban rentals are more often houses than apartments: only 11.5% of Converse homes and 19.5% of New Braunfels homes are in 5+ unit buildings.

Affordability limits rent growth inside the city. Of San Antonio's renter households, 50.9% spend 30% or more of income on gross rent and 25.3% spend at least half. Converse, with higher rents and a small renter base, has an even higher burdened share at 62.9%, and New Braunfels sits at 48.9%. A building whose tenants are already at those levels has little room for above-market renewals, and buyers will check how in-place rents compare with the city's bedroom-level medians before assuming any upside.

The apartment stock

San Antonio has 612,901 housing units, and ACS table B25024 shows 183,699 of them, or 30.0%, in buildings with five or more units. That is a smaller share than in Dallas or Houston, and the mix tilts toward small and mid-size buildings: 47,251 units in 5–9 unit buildings, 53,855 in 10–19 unit buildings, 33,998 in 20–49 unit buildings and 48,595 in complexes of 50 or more.

That mix shows up in where renters live. According to table B25032, 151,810 renter households, or 57.2% of the city's renters, live in 5+ unit buildings, but only 15.9% live in complexes of 50 or more units, about half the share in Houston or Dallas. A quarter of renters, 25.1%, rent detached single-family houses, so single-family rentals are a real competitor for family-size apartments.

The stock is middle-aged. The median year built is 1985, and 42.5% of units predate 1980. The 1980s were the largest building decade, with 98,896 units or 16.1% of today's stock, followed by the 2000s with 94,989. Only 15.1% of units date from 2010 or later, including 15,493 built since 2020. Buyers price in roof, plumbing, HVAC and foundation work on buildings of that age, and they ask for documentation of what has already been replaced.

New supply has been modest. With only 2.5% of units built since 2020, older buildings compete mostly with each other and with rented houses, not with a wave of new complexes. That is a different setting from Austin, where more than a quarter of housing is post-2010. For the owner of a 1980s building in Northeast San Antonio, the main competitive threats are newer suburban product in Converse and New Braunfels and the single-family rental pool, rather than new construction next door.

Property taxes on apartment buildings in Bexar County

Texas has no state property tax. The Comptroller explains that county appraisal districts value property and local units levy rates on that value. In San Antonio, the Bexar Appraisal District sets market value each year, and the city, Bexar County, a school district, the hospital district, Alamo Colleges and any special districts tax it. There is no separate assessment ratio for apartments.

For the city's portion, the San Antonio Report lists the City of San Antonio's total tax rate at $0.541590 per $100 of valuation, including both maintenance and operations and debt service. The school district rate on the same bill is typically larger, and the city spans several school districts, so the total varies from parcel to parcel. A buyer will rebuild the tax line from the parcel's actual rates.

The only statewide limit that can apply to an apartment building is Tax Code § 23.231. For non-homestead real property at or below an indexed threshold, $5 million for 2024, appraised value can rise no more than 20% a year plus improvements. It starts only after the owner has held the property on January 1 of a prior year and ends when the property is sold. Many San Antonio buildings in the 5–49 unit range may fall under the threshold, so a seller should expect the buyer's first appraisal to move toward the sale price. Owners can protest each year; the deadline is generally May 15 or 30 days after notice delivery, whichever is later, per the Comptroller.

Landlord rules

San Antonio cannot adopt ordinary rent control. Under Local Government Code § 214.902, a city may do so only after finding a disaster-related housing emergency, with the governor's approval.

The Texas Property Code sets the main tenancy rules. Deposits must be refunded within 30 days of the tenant surrendering the unit under § 92.103, and a bad-faith failure exposes the landlord to $100, three times the amount withheld and attorney's fees under § 92.109. Before filing an eviction for default, the landlord must give at least three days' written notice to vacate unless the lease provides otherwise, under § 24.005.

What this means if you own a building here

San Antonio's apartment market is built on small and mid-size buildings, steady military and healthcare demand, and rents that are among the lowest of the large Texas cities. That supports occupancy, but it limits rent growth, and half the city's renters are already cost-burdened. Buyers will focus on collections, turnover around military moves and the capital condition of 1970s and 1980s buildings, and they will reset the tax line to their purchase price.

Before talking to buyers, assemble your appraisal and protest history, a rent roll showing lease dates and any military clauses, and a list of recent capital work. You can test pricing with our cap rate calculator and review how net operating income drives value. Skyline Capital Investments buys 5+ unit buildings across San Antonio, including Northeast San Antonio and the Medical Center, as well as New Braunfels and Converse, and our seller page explains how we underwrite.