Rental freebies on the rise in Austin
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A larger share of Austin-area rental listings in 2024 offered concessions — like a free month of rent, waived application and pet fees, free parking, utility discounts or event gift cards, according to a new Zillow report.
Why it matters: Concessions may be a marketing tactic, but they also help ease renters' financial burden.
The big picture: We can thank the multifamily construction boom for these deals, Zillow economist Kara Ng tells Axios. Renters have plenty of apartments to choose from, so property managers need ways to win them over.
Zoom in: The concessions are playing out against a soft Austin rental market.
- Austin, Denver and San Antonio were the only metro areas in the nation's top 50 where December rents had fallen since a year earlier, per the Zillow report.
Case in point: The Bell Southpark, just west of I-35 in South Austin, is offering four weeks' free rent for new sign-ups.
What they're saying: "If a property's not offering specials, they won't even look at it," Alissa Simino, an apartment locator with AptAmigo in Austin, said of her clients in an interview with the American-Statesman in December. "With all the new apartment units coming online, there's a plethora of options."
- Some Austin landlords are offering $1,000, either as a gift card or a credit up front, Simino told the Statesman.
Stunning stat: As a function of median household income, rents in Austin are now the most affordable in the country, per Zillow.
- A household with a median Austin income spent, on average, 19.6% of its money on rent in December — far below the 29.3% of income median households pay nationally.