Texas A&M Study Reveals Pressure on Renters

New data from the Texas A&M Real Estate Center shows that pressure on renters is driven by 9 percent population growth in the state, more than double the national average. Key findings, presented recently by the Texas Affiliation of Affordable Housing Providers (TAAHP) include:

The share of all renter households in Texas spending more than 30% of their income on housing rose 5 percentage points to 45.7 percent since 2017.

88.6% of low-income Texas households (earning less than $35,000) are spending more than one-third of their income on rent – surpassing the U.S. average of 82.4% — and up 3.2% since 2019.

The state’s rent-to-income ratio among low-income households has exceeded the national average every year since 2017.

The top 5 Texas counties with the most extreme rental affordability pressures are Collin, Williamson, Denton, Fort Bend and Travis, in that order.

At the same time, affordable housing development is slowing as financing gaps widen and regulatory uncertainty increases.

Experts at the TAAHP say declining housing tax credit pricing – down to approximately 85 cents on the dollar from 95 cents in 2022–combined with higher interest rates, rising construction costs, and recent state legislation, has stalled new affordable housing development, just as demand surges.