5 Reasons to Invest in the Greater Austin, Texas Real Estate

SFR (single-family residential) real estate investing can be one of the most lucrative ways to build wealth. To be successful with a rental property, though, you need to abide by the age-old saying in real estate: Location, location, location.

One of the best locations for real estate investing is Texas, and with the Austin booming economy and growing population. There’s no better place to own a rental property.

Below is a full Austin real estate investing 2024 outlook. This includes the five top reasons to invest in the Greater Austin, Texas real estate market.

1. State and Local Economy

Texas has a booming economy. It is a force to be reckoned with due to its large size and diverse industry. If Texas were a separate country, in fact, it would have the eighth largest economy in the entire world, outranking other countries such as Spain, Russia, Mexico and Italy.

There are a number of reasons why Texas has a favorable economy.

First and foremost, it’s known as a state that supports business. More than 10% of the 1,000 largest private and public companies in America are based in the state — a list that includes Tesla, Oracle, ExxonMobil and Amazon.

The state also invests heavily in educating its workforce, with more than 125 technical programs and more than 300 trade schools located here. The tax rates are also quite low in the state, too, which enables businesses to invest money back into their employees and their business.

The Austin booming economy makes the city of nearly 1 million people a great place for your rental property. Last year, the city ranked in the top 10 in the U.S. for job growth from small- and mid-sized businesses.

The solid economy of the state and local economy is why Austin is a great place for SFR real estate investing.

2. Growth Prospects

Austin’s great economic prospects have led, quite directly, to a boom in population in recent years.

The population of the Austin metro area is about 2.28 million people in 2024, which represents a 2.06% increase year-over-year. The decade that ended in 2020 saw an increase of 33% in population from the decade before.

In the last 24 years alone, the Austin metro region’s population has nearly doubled, from about 1.25 million in 2000 to 2.28 million in 2024.

That explosive growth means that people need housing. This has driven new housing construction and a demand for solid rental properties. 

All of this leads to amazing prospects to invest in the Greater Austin, Texas real estate in 2024.

3. Stability

Housing booms happen in regions of the country where economies boom. The concern, of course, is that these bubbles can burst, people relocate, and housing markets bottom out. Unfortunately, this can happen seemingly overnight at times, and it has — in cities such as Detroit, Michigan.

There aren’t these types of concerns in Austin, though, for a variety of reasons. The above-mentioned state and local economic conditions are a big contributor to the overall stability of the region. 

Solid job market prospects and diverse investment opportunities lead to continued population growth, which in turn leads to stability in the housing market. 

4. High Demand for Workers, High Demand for Housing

Austin has a very stable and growing job market.

The average annual salary in the region is $60,260, compared to the national average of $58,260, according to U.S. News & World Report. The unemployment rate is also a few percentage points lower in Austin than the national average.

WalletHub also ranked Austin No. 5 on the list of the best places to find a job.

According to the Austin Chamber of Commerce, the city added 56,300 jobs in the 12 months that ended in June 2023, which again ranked it fifth among the top 50 metro regions in the country. That number also represented a job growth rate of 4.4%.

Companies such as National Instruments, Whole Foods Market, VRBO, Dell Technologies, and Samsung Austin Semiconductor all have their headquarters in Austin. In fact, Samsung recently announced that it is going to double its semiconductor investment in Texas (located in or near Taylor, Texas) to a whopping $44billion – which means even more job growth for the greater Austin area. 

Private companies such as St. David’s HealthCare Partnership, IBM and Apple all employ more than 6,000 workers. So, too, do public entities such as the University of Texas at Austin, the city of Austin, the federal government, the state of Texas and the Austin Independent School District.

The high demand of workers directly leads to a high demand for housing. This is a situation that you’re looking for in SFR real estate investing.

5. Landlord-friendly State

Texas is quite often ranked among the most landlord-friendly states in the nation. While property taxes are high here, the state’s laws typically favor landlords in a number of areas.

Landlords are in a better position in Texas than they are in other states when it comes to eviction notices, security deposits and much more. There also aren’t any laws for rent control, which gives landlords more flexibility when it comes to increasing rent.

This aspect of Texas real estate increases the appeal of the Austin real estate investing market in 2024 and beyond.