HOUSTON – (By Dale King, Realty News Report) — Amenities play a central role in renters’ apartment decisions. Access to desired conveniences can determine whether a prospective tenant signs a lease.
Some amenities are common, while others remain scarce, according to Apartment List, an online marketplace that connects renters with apartment listings.
“We help renters find homes they love, and amenities are a top factor they consider when searching for an apartment,” said Chris Salviati, a housing economist at Apartment List, where he researches economic trends in the housing market.
Salviati added that renters’ preferences don’t always match marketplace availability. In a recent report, Apartment List analyzed renter search patterns and property data from its platform to assess how well rental amenities align with renter demand across the nation’s largest metro areas.
The findings show a clear result for Houston: apartment hunters there are likely to find more amenities than average. “We categorize Houston as having too many amenities,” Salviati said. “Renters are likely to have an above-average chance” of finding what they want.
However, some specific amenities remain harder to find. In Houston, for example, in-unit laundry stands out as the most difficult to secure. Fifty-seven percent of renters list it as a desired feature, yet only 42 percent of rentals offer it.
By comparison, pet policies in the Bayou City are relatively generous. Seventy-nine percent of units permit cats even though only 8 percent of renters bring cats, and 81 percent of units allow dogs while just 26 percent of renters request pet-friendly housing for canines.
“Renters in Houston are more demanding than those in many other parts of the country, with demand above the national average for 8 of the 10 amenities we analyzed,” Salviati said.
At the same time, Houston landlords tend to supply more of certain conveniences—air conditioning, balconies, dishwashers, fitness centers, hardwood floors, parking and pools—than renters request.
Apartment List’s analysis identifies in-unit laundry as the “holy grail” of amenities. Nationwide, an estimated 53 percent of renters want in-unit laundry, but only about 13 percent of rental properties provide it.
Across the country, air conditioning and parking are also in short supply relative to demand. Fifty-six percent of renters prefer air conditioning and 55 percent want parking, yet only 39 percent of properties have air conditioning and 46 percent offer parking.
Even when parking exists, it frequently comes with an extra cost. In dense, high-cost cities such as New York and San Francisco, securing a parking space can add hundreds of dollars to a renter’s monthly expenses.
Renter preferences vary widely by region. “San Antonio renters want it all, while in NYC, renters will take what they can get,” Salviati observed.
San Antonio ranks highest for amenity demand among the metros studied, with the largest share of renters requesting five of the 10 amenities Apartment List tracked. Given Texas weather, it’s unsurprising that many San Antonio renters prioritize air conditioning and pools. San Antonio is also among the country’s more affordable large cities, which may explain why renters there are willing to pay for higher-end features like hardwood floors and balconies.
By contrast, the New York City metro shows comparatively low demand for many amenities; New Yorkers often accept fewer options given the market’s high rents. New York is the nation’s second most expensive rental market, with a median two-bedroom rent of about $2,470.
Other Texas metros show patterns similar to Houston. In Dallas, in-unit laundry remains uncommon: only 19 percent of properties include it, while 46 percent of renters request it. In Austin, 58 percent of renters want in-unit laundry but only 21 percent of units provide it, leaving many residents reliant on nearby laundromats.
Overall, only 10 of the 70 metros Apartment List examined display a close match between amenity supply and renter demand. Providence, Rhode Island ranks best for alignment.
In some places, amenities are visibly mismatched. In Madison, Wisconsin, gyms, hardwood floors and balconies appear on more properties than renters request, while dishwashers, air conditioning and in-unit laundry are scarcer than desired. Other metros with notable mismatches include Portland, Phoenix and Tucson.
An excess of amenities can also be costly for renters if they pay for conveniences they don’t need. Salviati noted that all four major Texas metros—Houston, San Antonio, Dallas and Austin—tend to offer abundant amenities, likely because recent multifamily construction in the state frequently includes modern features as part of new builds.
As the nation’s rental stock continues to grow, Salviati said he hopes developers, property managers and landlords will prioritize the amenities most desired in their local markets to better align supply with renter demand.
July 9, 2018 Realty News Report Copyright 2018
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