'Record number' of new apartment units coming to Austin market in 2023
A record number 20,000 new apartment units are expected to come on the market in Austin this year.
AUSTIN (KXAN) - Popular West Campus bar Cain & Abel's is turning into a new housing high-rise after a demolition permit was filed with the City of Austin.
"It's kind of sad. You would think places like this would stay here forever," said University of Texas student Jimmy Lahey.
It's just another example of more apartments coming to the area.
While the demand for housing in Austin continues to grow, students like Lahey worry more high-rises on UT's campus will change the area.
"Everything old is getting torn down and going straight up," Lahey said.
How many apartment units are coming?
"Growth is taking place right now at a level that we haven't really seen before in the Austin metro," said Senior Research Associate Rob Warnock.
Warnock works with Apartment List, an online apartment rental site. He said in 2022 Austin permitted a total of 43,000 new housing units.
"A little more than half of them were multifamily, meaning they were, you know, duplexes, triplexes, up to major apartment complexes," Warnock said.
Executive Vice President of the Austin Apartment Association Emily Blair said at least 20,000 new units will be on the market in 2023.
She said more apartments could help lower rental prices.
"When you see an influx of new apartment homes coming on the market, you might see those lease ups, offering some incentives and some, you know, special pricing," Blair said.
Blair said on average Austin has added 9,000 new units each year. But she said there's been a dramatic boom in the last five years with about 13,000 new units being added on average.
She said 20,000 new units is record breaking for the city.