Most Apartments Delivered in 2014: DC Ranks Second, Dallas is #1

[rellott]

Originally Posted by dc_denizen

DC Ranks Second Among Cities for Most Apartments Delivered in 2014

link



The DC metro area will deliver 18,000 apartments in 2014, earning it second place on the list of metros adding the most apartments this year.

I wonder how this list would look with condos+apartments.

Top Ten Metros:



Bottom Ten:

Alrighty yall, let's get back to the OP. I think it's interesting to see the similarities between the Top cities. Dallas, Houston, Denver are driven by energy, while Austin and Seattle by technology. Minus the fact that they're NY and LA are there any other reasons for their numbers? DC I'm assuming is because of government and Orlando I haven't got the slightest clue except the stereotypical Disney factor.

[AviationGuy]

Originally Posted by glowrock

Fine. Let's just say there are huge swaths of Houston that are very poor and not necessarily crime-ridden shitholes but are just run-down because the residents are simply poor. Still doesn't make them areas professionals would want to live in. I know this is true of all cities, but it seems especially true in Houston where so much of what lies between the Loop and the Beltway are very poor neighborhoods in correspondingly poor condition. With the exception of course of the west side from 10 to 59, roughly.

Aaron (Glworock)

Even aside from the area from 10 to 59 that you mentioned, there are many other well kept middle class neighborhoods where professionals live, as well as other highly affluent neighborhoods that high paid professionals tend to flock to, all between the loop and the Beltway. I don't think it's fair to over-generalize and claim that this occurs only between 59 and 10. Of course, there are many poor areas as well. No disagreement there. I'm really sorry you haven't had a chance to see the other areas; it's a big city and there are even people who have lived there for decades who aren't aware. So that's fine.

Conceptually, of course, you are correct that professionals avoid certain areas. That's certainly the way it is.

[mthd]

the 30% thing is silly. aside from being a gross oversimplification, it doesn't take into account the vastly different energy, transportation, and entertainment/amenity costs of different types of living and types of housing.

our electric bill per month: $50 (3 people)
our water bill per month: $0
our yard maintenance bill per month: $0
our gas bill per month: $0
our security bill per month: $0
our pool guy bill per month: $0
total cost of commuting per month: $80/person

kids want to have fun? take them to the park or the beach. walk or take transit. total cost? $0

the cost of cool stuff like computers, cameras, ipads, clothes, plane tickets, vacations, cars, etc are fixed between cities. salaries are higher in more expensive cities. after you take out housing, the remaining 50% of 100k is 50k; 50% of 80k is 40k. you can obviously buy a lot more of that fixed-price stuff - or save a lot more money - with 50k than you can with 40k.

the cost of owning a car and driving it 1,000 miles a month is about $600. the cost of a muni pass in san francisco is $66 a month - or $33 if you're low income.

take the higher salaries of big cities and the lower expenditures on many things, and the available money for rent is much, much higher than in low cost of living, low density places. and when it comes to real estate..... you get what you pay for.

[Owlhorn]

Originally Posted by ardecila

This is interesting. Think about the countless transit-oriented neighborhoods Dallas could be building if they coordinated transit planning with land use. Clearly the demand is there for apartment living. Washington is doing just that, and the results are nothing short of amazing.

This is pretty much where these apartments are being built in Dallas. The one really suburban area that is building big right now a new urbanist Development in North Dallas called Cypress waters, which looked ambitious on paper, but has already built a couple thousand units and lured a couple of corporate relos. Las Colinas and Richardson are suburbs, but their developments have multiple rail stations and are much more built up and established with purpose built new urbanist type developments. Between those three areas, you probably have 5,000 units going up alone. Besides those, there's a crazy amount of urban infill going on. Dallas doesn't get talked about as much because very little of it is truly tall, but there are thousands of units going up in 5-10 story new urbanist type developments all over the inner-city of Dallas. There sheer amount of construction in Oak Lawn and Uptown has been pretty crazy. There are cranes all over the area, and you have neighborhoods completely changing in the course of a couple of years. We post some on the DFW city compilations thread, but there are just too many to know.

The growth in Dallas and its burbs are being fueled by a very diverse economy. Its strange to hear that growth here is fueled by the energy industry. There are some energy companies here, but Dallas has always been about Finance and Tech. Now Dallas has is becoming an Insurance Power and logistics hub. As well as medical research. There are company relos here every week it seems, and they seem to be very diverse in nature. It would really be hard to pin down one industry that is running Dallas right now. Finance in DT Dallas and Platinum Corridor, Energy in DT FW, Tech in Richardson/Plano/Frisco, Logistics in South Dallas, DFW Airport area and North Fort Worth. Research in the UT Southwestern medical district.

[jtown,man]

Originally Posted by glowrock

Partially true, except that the high rents can be partially blamed on extremely high property taxes in Houston and the surrounding areas. Everyone here loves to claim Houston is so low in taxes. When you add up all the state, local, property taxes, there isn't really much difference between the states in overall tax liability, excluding the top and bottom 5 on the list. Houston's booming in the energy sector as well as in medical. The reason so many apartments are being built is because literally 80% of the city is full of ghetto/barrio/rundown areas that professionals just don't want to live in, therefore huge numbers are being built in the relatively few gentrifying/gentrified areas of town, plus of course huge numbers in the suburbs.

Houston is strange. The nice apartments are all sky-high in price (and trust me, I know this first hand every time I pay my monthly rent here!) but there are lots of low-cost options as long as you don't mind living in a veritable shithole full of crime, filth and assorted non-niceties. There's not much in the way of "moderate" level apartments, mainly because Houston itself either has really nice neighborhoods or really crappy ones, not much in between. Unfortunate, but true.

Aaron (Glowrock)

Semi-true. Taxes are lower in Texas than in the NE or California. It really depends on your income and how much your house is worth. I've seen people make out like bandits and some other people not so much.

[glowrock]

Originally Posted by jtown,man

Semi-true. Taxes are lower in Texas than in the NE or California. It really depends on your income and how much your house is worth. I've seen people make out like bandits and some other people not so much.

As long as you exclude property taxes, then yes. It does, it really does depend on your income, your home value, the city/county you live in, etc... My point was that Texas (or other supposedly low-tax states) really aren't much lower than California (or other supposedly high-tax states), at least once you exclude the top 5 and bottom 5.

And back to the original point, there's no question that apartment rents and affordability rates are greatly influenced by the property tax rates in any particular area. In high property-tax areas, I'd bet that several hundred dollars per month in an average rental rate are solely to pay property taxes on the unit. Definitely adds up.

Aaron (Glowrock)

[urbanactivist]

Originally Posted by glowrock

Hateful post? I don't think so, AviationGuy. It's a realistic post. Houston IS a strange beast when it comes to neighborhoods (relatively urban, walkable ones at least), demographics and their distribution. I should make some correction to my original statements, namely that inside of the Loop things are generally quite good but much of the entire area between the Loop and the Beltway are pretty terrible overall (excepting perhaps the slice between I-10 and US 59 on the west/southwest side.)

I looked all over the place trying to find a nice apartment in a reasonable area (ie: walkable, somewhat urban) that wouldn't be a huge commute to and from my workplace (up by IAH). Choices were pretty limited in terms of areas, especially given I pretty much had to exclude the whole Galleria/Uptown area because of horrific traffic issues.

Lots of cities certainly have more of a "middle ground" than Houston has. For better or worse, Houston has a large number of "have's" and a much larger number of "have not's". Not sure of the exacts, but it just seems that way. Maybe it's the sprawled-out nature of the place. Not sure. But damn, it's definitely what I see in my day to day commutes and weekend jaunts around the area.

As for the purpose of this thread, it DOES mean something. Because the "nicer, more urban and walkable parts of town" are pretty limited in Houston, it means there are many more residential towers and midrise complexes being built in those areas. So yes, it definitely means many more multifamily units being built than would probably otherwise be typical for a city of its size. Nothing wrong with that, and in fact I think it's a very good thing. Densification is always good in a place like Houston which has such a sprawled-out nature.

Anyhow, just my $.02.

Aaron (Glowrock)

My first point... many of y'all have probably noticed that I don't comment much on SSP anymore, mostly because of issues like the ones cropping up on this thread. This is a great forum, but we've got to find a way to stop with this ridiculous cycle of inflamed rhetoric followed promptly by (often unnecessary) censorship.

Secondly regarding Houston... I agree with Reverb. It's a bit unfair to make generalizations without putting those things in context. This city is in its current condition thanks to decades of a wildcatter, "anything goes" mentality, and it's not going to be reversed overnight. Even in the city's most "walkable" enclaves, basic infrastructure like sidewalks are so poor that you'd have to walk in the street anyway. Or the sidewalks were never built to begin with.

But just as important as the reality that people are moving to Houston in droves is the other fact that they are moving here with the will and energy to make changes. Along with new apartments being built, we're also in the midst of constructing a massive network of bike/ walking trails, rebuilding city streets and drainage, historic light rail expansion, significant bus transportation improvements, and a host of new regulations designed to protect pedestrians, cyclist and public transit users. Houston is a bit of a disconnected mess today, but a few years down the line, the city is going to have its act together.

[glowrock]

Originally Posted by urbanactivist

My first point... many of y'all have probably noticed that I don't comment much on SSP anymore, mostly because of issues like the ones cropping up on this thread. This is a great forum, but we've got to find a way to stop with this ridiculous cycle of inflamed rhetoric followed promptly by (often unnecessary) censorship.

Secondly regarding Houston... I agree with Reverb. It's a bit unfair to make generalizations without putting those things in context. This city is in its current condition thanks to decades of a wildcatter, "anything goes" mentality, and it's not going to be reversed overnight. Even in the city's most "walkable" enclaves, basic infrastructure like sidewalks are so poor that you'd have to walk in the street anyway. Or the sidewalks were never built to begin with.

But just as important as the reality that people are moving to Houston in droves is the other fact that they are moving here with the will and energy to make changes. Along with new apartments being built, we're also in the midst of constructing a massive network of bike/ walking trails, rebuilding city streets and drainage, historic light rail expansion, significant bus transportation improvements, and a host of new regulations designed to protect pedestrians, cyclist and public transit users. Houston is a bit of a disconnected mess today, but a few years down the line, the city is going to have its act together.

And for the record, I completely agree with you on all points, urbanactivist. Houston IS definitely changing for the better at this point. And the massive number of new units being developed with at least some urban amenities and overall planning is helping immensely.

Aaron (Glowrock)

[AviationGuy]

Originally Posted by urbanactivist

My first point... many of y'all have probably noticed that I don't comment much on SSP anymore, mostly because of issues like the ones cropping up on this thread. This is a great forum, but we've got to find a way to stop with this ridiculous cycle of inflamed rhetoric followed promptly by (often unnecessary) censorship.

Secondly regarding Houston... I agree with Reverb. It's a bit unfair to make generalizations without putting those things in context. This city is in its current condition thanks to decades of a wildcatter, "anything goes" mentality, and it's not going to be reversed overnight. Even in the city's most "walkable" enclaves, basic infrastructure like sidewalks are so poor that you'd have to walk in the street anyway. Or the sidewalks were never built to begin with.

But just as important as the reality that people are moving to Houston in droves is the other fact that they are moving here with the will and energy to make changes. Along with new apartments being built, we're also in the midst of constructing a massive network of bike/ walking trails, rebuilding city streets and drainage, historic light rail expansion, significant bus transportation improvements, and a host of new regulations designed to protect pedestrians, cyclist and public transit users. Houston is a bit of a disconnected mess today, but a few years down the line, the city is going to have its act together.

Good post, urbanactivist. I'm seeing the positive energy and upbeat Houstonians as well. I particularly enjoy reading the city compilations pages here at SSP to get a feel for what's going on. The general development page for Houston is discussing apartments, which would be relevant to the current thread.

[jtown,man]

Originally Posted by glowrock

As long as you exclude property taxes, then yes. It does, it really does depend on your income, your home value, the city/county you live in, etc... My point was that Texas (or other supposedly low-tax states) really aren't much lower than California (or other supposedly high-tax states), at least once you exclude the top 5 and bottom 5.

And back to the original point, there's no question that apartment rents and affordability rates are greatly influenced by the property tax rates in any particular area. In high property-tax areas, I'd bet that several hundred dollars per month in an average rental rate are solely to pay property taxes on the unit. Definitely adds up.

Aaron (Glowrock)

But I was including property taxes. If you come from a high income tax state which also has relatively high property tax(NY) you will save money in Texas. Also, if you live in California and say live in a 700k home and make around 250k a year and then move to TX in to a 300k home making 200k a year you still make out.

[min-chi-cbus]

I'd be curious to see #'s 11-20 as well.

[Shasta]

Glowrock is right. In fact, I'd argue that 90% of Houston is ghetto. That's why development is only taking place in a very small part of the metro area and we aren't seeing things being built in Downtown, Midtown, Uptown, Upper Kirby, Tanglewood, Energy Corridor, EaDo, Riverside Terrace, Medical Center, Museum District, Bellaire, West U, River Oaks, the Heights, Timbergrove Manor, Clear Lake, Sugar Land, the Woodlands, Cypress, Katy, Cinco Ranch, Sienna Plantation, Pearland, Baytown, Galveston, etc...

[AviationGuy]

Originally Posted by Shasta

Glowrock is right. In fact, I'd argue that 90% of Houston is ghetto. That's why development is only taking place in a very small part of the metro area and we aren't seeing things being built in Downtown, Midtown, Uptown, Upper Kirby, Tanglewood, Energy Corridor, EaDo, Riverside Terrace, Medical Center, Museum District, Bellaire, West U, River Oaks, the Heights, Timbergrove Manor, Clear Lake, Sugar Land, the Woodlands, Cypress, Katy, Cinco Ranch, Sienna Plantation, Pearland, Baytown, Galveston, etc...

I had to read it twice to realize what you were doing.

[Dr Nevergold]

Originally Posted by 10023

18% on housing is pretty cheap.

It is the amount more people should be paying, housing shouldn't be super expensive IMO. Makes for a less healthy economy when you have no income left to spend on other items.

I did the calculation, and ironically my housing came out to be 18.1% of my annual income, and I have my own place and don't split the rent. My rent includes the gas for heat and water heater and cooking to further reduce my costs.

[mhays]

The market wouldn't let it get that low. Most people paying 18% would find a better place. If everyone paid that much, people would bid up the prices until the average was higher.

[rellott]

Originally Posted by Shasta

Glowrock is right. In fact, I'd argue that 90% of Houston is ghetto. That's why development is only taking place in a very small part of the metro area and we aren't seeing things being built in Downtown, Midtown, Uptown, Upper Kirby, Tanglewood, Energy Corridor, EaDo, Riverside Terrace, Medical Center, Museum District, Bellaire, West U, River Oaks, the Heights, Timbergrove Manor, Clear Lake, Sugar Land, the Woodlands, Cypress, Katy, Cinco Ranch, Sienna Plantation, Pearland, Baytown, Galveston, etc...

Keepin it classy I see

[DCReid]

Originally Posted by rellott

Keepin it classy I see

Many cities have rough areas. They can change - one of DC's hottest areas right now, 14th street, had hookers and crack addicts at nearly every corner in the 80s/90s. Now condos are going up on nearly every corner and a new restaurant is opening every week.

[rellott]

Surprised no one has mentioned that Houston lost 300 apartment units....sooo, stratch that off the list