May 2018 Abilene Rent Report
In May, the average Abilene-area rental leased in 19 days. Looking back at the last 5 years, this ties April 2015 for quickest pace for leasing single-family homes in Abilene.
This overview utilizes NTREIS data on leased properties in Abilene, Texas. This data provides 13 months of data spanning May 2017 to May 2018, 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 2017.
May’s pace for leasing marks a welcome recovery compared to leasing at outset of 2018. Rentals leased in January and February 2018 sat empty for 53 days, the slowest monthly pace for leasing seen in the last 5 years and 10 days slower than the first-of-the-year average. The graph below summarizes over 5 years worth of rental data for days on market and mirror conventional wisdom. Rentals lease slowest at the new year and lease fastest in late spring.
Number of days vacant has decreased for homes in 79605 and 79606 over the last four months. This same, four-month trend is true for homes in the Abilene ISD. Since February, homes in 79601 and 79602 were part of this trend, but in May, they remained vacant longer when compared to April 2018.
May rent-per-square-foot rose to 81¢ per-square-foot for a 3¢ per-square-foot gain over last month. Both Abilene ISD and Wylie ISD saw rents rise between April to May and against the 12-month average. 79601 was the only ZIP code to experience a decline in per-square-foot and register a rent-per-square-foot below the 12-month average. For an average-sized, 1,344 square foot rental, this translates to a $40.32 gain over last month.
Looking at housing rent rates since 2013 and adjusting for housing inflation, the average rent-per-square-foot for Abilene homes was 79¢, for Abilene ISD homes was 75¢ and for Wylie ISD homes was 93¢. May 2018 rents outperformed these historical rates, registering a real gain in rent for Abilene ISD, Wylie ISD and Abilene on the whole.
The graph that follows captures historical rents adjusted for inflation using the CPI for housing. Abilene ISD and town-wide rents increased marginally, Wylie ISD rents are almost 20¢ higher than Abilene ISD rents, but exhibit a slight, downward trend.
Average security deposits were $870, roughly the same as the 12-month average of $878. Pet deposits were slightly below the 12-month average, but only 23% of May rentals were leased to pet owners. This mirrors last month’s 13-month low when only 22% of available rentals were leased to pet owners. April’s ratio of deposit-to-rent was down at 81%. At 2 points below the average and within one standard deviation of the mean, this fluctuation is unremarkable.
According to NTREIS, 94 single-family homes leased in May 2018 which is 11 units above the annual average and 15 above May 2017. These units leased at, on average, for 81¢/sqft and measured 1,372 square feet. Consequently, these leases are estimated to deliver a value of $104,464 to the Abilene economy in May 2018. Considering the coming 12 months and leases executed during May 2018, these leases potentially account for a $1,253,569 annual contribution to Abilene’s economy.
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