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Renters, not landlords, have the upper hand in San Antonio's current apartment market, according to recent reports from the apartment search website, RentCafe.
San Antonio ranks 12th in the nation when it comes to easily moving from one apartment to another, RentCafe.com said. Renters here stay put at one apartment less than two years on average.
Doug Ressler is a manager at Yardi Matrix, a company that helped put together the recent reports for RentCafe. He said landlords are showering renters with perks to keep them from moving.
"There's different kinds of perks that are being offered. Some are intrinsic, some are tangible, like free rent, one to months," he said. "You could get waived applications for pet fees. Free parking, utility discounts, gift cards, that type of thing"
RentCafe reports the apartment turnover rate is driven largely by young renters who can't afford a new home because of high mortgage rates and other housing costs but can afford to move to a new apartment.
And there are lots of new apartments on the market to tempt them to move. Ressler said new apartment construction here has managed to stay just ahead of demand without saturating the market with new units. Occupancy levels are running around 91%.
And while there are plenty of new apartment projects downtown, including the Tower Life Residences, Ressler said renters are gravitating more to apartments on the outskirts of San Antonio.
"Where we're really seeing the bulk of this is in places like Schertz, Southwest Bexar County, Selma, New Braunfels," he said.
Apartments are cheaper to build in those areas than in the city center where development costs are higher. Cheaper development costs often result in more affordable rents.
San Antonio's large military population moves a lot too.
