Steve Spillette
CDS Community Development Strategies

Houston remains the largest US metro area most economically tied to oil and gas. Houston benefited from those ties from 2011 to 2014, during a period of high oil prices, adding 380,000 jobs. But since then, oil prices have dropped significantly. While nearly all sectors of the area's economy have felt that drop, some have felt it more than others. The apartment market is receiving a noticeable impact. This article originally appeared in the August 2016 issue of Texas Real Estate Business.

Rent Cafe Blog

While location, location, location is something we tend to emphasize a lot, the best places often come with compromises that are hard to come to terms with—chief among which, the financial matters. But price in itself isn’t everything either. After all, renting a space to live in is all about, well, space. And if you’re anything like us, the more stretch you get for your cash, the wider your grin, so apartment size is important. Then again, you cannot lose sight of location completely…

​Here’s what $1,500 rents across the US—from 271 sq.ft. in Manhattan to 1,948 sq.ft. in Memphis

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​Millennials—those currently 19 to 34 years old (born 1981 to 1996)—have been a challenging demographic group for the home building industry to figure out. They’ve kept many wondering as to when and where they will finally decide to buy a home. 

​One major reason Millennials are acting differently has to do with finances. According to the New American Foundation, the average Millennial graduating with a bachelor’s degree has nearly $30k in student loans. This long-term burden of debt competes with other expenditures, and makes it harder to qualify for mortgages. Add fewer job opportunities (and job advances) to the mix and it’s not hard to understand why Millennials are living at home longer with parents, renting rather than buying, and putting off marriage and children. More than changing preferences—these are often sound financial choices. Eventually, Millennials will be buying homes, but they will do so at a lower rate than previous generations and on a delayed time schedule. 

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Additional large multi-family apartment projects are not necessarily being recommended in the near term, CDS Market Research President Steve Spillette said during Enid Regional Development Alliance’s annual meeting and quarterly luncheon Thursday.

CDS Market Research performed the 2013 Enid Housing Study and recently updated it with current data — leading to recommendations presented during the meeting.

It has been estimated Enid will need 613 new housing units in the next two years, CDS Market Research Senior Analyst Kirby Snideman said during the presentation.

“The majority of these 613 units should be owner-occupied housing and 200 of those, rental housing,” he said.

Spillette said Esplanade Apartments at Stonebridge — on which ground was broken Thursday — will add 200 units in 2016.

“We don’t necessarily recommend any additional large multi-family apartment projects beyond that, in the very near term. That said, we do think that there should be a continued effort on the part — and we’ve heard that some developers are really looking into this — to build smaller rental projects, such as infill rental townhomes,” he said. “We do think that that would actually be a very good thing to add to the market, in addition to the Esplanade project, especially ones that can be done fairly affordably.”

Spillette said there should be continued efforts to increase the number of moderately priced homes."

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