Rent per square foot finished at 78₵ per square foot for December 2017. This is a penny ahead of the average for 2017 and 2₵ ahead of the last two months that saw rent per square foot steady at 76₵ per square foot.
This overview utilizes NTREIS data on leased properties in Abilene, Texas. This data provides 13 months of data spanning December 2016 to December 2017, allowing the user to look across these months at changes in rental prices, days on market and inventory available town wide, both by school district and by ZIP code. The percentage changes calculated in this table compare the current month’s statistics to an average of the last 12-months and the data from the same month in the 2016.
This tepid December recovery is less reassuring when inflation is factored into rent. The 12-month average for inflation concluded at 2.1% in December 2017. The 2016 end-of-year average for rent per square foot was 76₵. Adjusting this figure for 2.1% inflation reveals that there has been no real gain in Abilene-area rent across 2017.
Returning to the most recent rental data, we see that rent rose in every ZIP code when we compare December to November 2017. In 79606, rent has steadily increased over the last four months. The weakest rent per square foot is in 79603 at 64₵ per square foot and strongest in 79602 at 90₵ per square foot.
During December, homes stayed on the market longer in all ZIP codes except for 79601. Homes located in 79603 have realized increasingly more days on the market each month since August 2017. This helps explain why 79603 December rents are 4₵ per square foot below their 2017 12-month average as landlords in this sub-market adjust price to maintain relevancy.
While days on the market shrunk between November to December in 79601, this performance deserves qualification. 79601 homes leased in December took 78 days to find a tenant and this is 24 days above the 13-month average. Too, December’s average days on the market for 79601 was compared to a 13-month peak of 90 days for November 2017.
At $998, average December rents were flat when compared to November 2017 and were $61 below the 12-month average. Flat rent can be explained, in part because homes leased in December were of an identical age to homes leased in November. Homes leased in December 2017 were 86 square feet smaller than their 12-month average.
December security deposits were $77 above November 2017 and pet deposits were down by $40. The number of units leased to pet owners rose from 32% in November to 40% in December. With a $40 drop in pet deposits, an increase in units leased to pet owners, and flat rents, it appears landlords were ready to concede to book a lease. In contrast, the ratio of security deposit to rent was 88%, up from 81% in the prior month. This signals better quality rentals that landlords hope to safeguard with a higher deposit.
According to NTREIS, 60 single-family homes leased in December 2017 which is 19 units below the annual average. These units leased at, on average, for 78¢/square foot and measured 1,305 square feet. Consequently, these leases are estimated to deliver a value of $61,074 to the Abilene economy in December 2017. Considering the coming 12 months and leases executed during December 2017, these leases potentially account for a $732,888 annual contribution to Abilene’s economy.
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