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Texas Prepares to House Workforce of Tech Corp Giants Leaving California

Whether it’s employees following their companies or job hopefuls looking to relocate, the Texas housing landscape seems prepared to accommodate them all.
By Alexandra Ciuntu
March 20, 2021
Topics
Markets

With tech companies set to trade California for Texas, the state could see a growing housing demand as established and potential employees follow suit.

Tesla, Oracle Corp. and Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s recent moves to Texas are expected to trigger a rise in apartment demand. But these three tech pillars are not alone in their decision to shift business focus towards the Lone Star State. Fortune 500 companies, founders and investors have had their eye on Texas for a while. Apple, Amazon, DELL, Exxon and AT&T have already established a job presence here, on top of expansions for the likes of Google or Facebook.

Following in the footsteps of tech businesses is among the reasons professionals and job hopefuls nationwide could gear up to call Texas their new home. And according to RENTCafé, the state looks more than ready to house them in the backdrop of an ongoing apartment boom.

The main Texas metros burst with new apartment construction

As reigning national leader in residential development, Texas is prepared to welcome an influx of professionals in search of new career opportunities, as well as those relocating to follow their current company.

With 126,900 apartments under construction state-wide, the biggest clusters of new development occur in and around the most important metros: Dallas, Austin, Houston and San Antonio.



The highest number of apartments under construction is in the Dallas metro, with 49,000—of which 11,400 are to be delivered in the city of Dallas. Notably, financial services company Charles Schwab announced its Dallas move back in 2019, while real estate brokerage CBRE reported the relocation of its global headquarters from Los Angeles to Dallas.

The Austin metro has 31,000 units underway, while the city with the highest number of apartments under construction is Austin itself, with 22,600. Austin was voted Best Tech Town two years in a row by the Computing Technology Industry Association, which only added to its increasing popularity among IT and tech professionals and recruiters.

The Houston metro area is in the process of building 28,600 new apartments, 17,400 of which are set to be delivered in Houston proper. Houston is already the HPE’s largest U.S. employee site and, as its new headquarters, the development for a new company campus already begun, slated to be fully functional by 2022.

San Antonio operates on a smaller scale as the metro will introduce 10,900 new apartments, 9,300 apartments in San Antonio itself.

Texas saw half a million new apartments in the last decade alone

Between 2010 and 2020, state-wide projects introduced 503,300 apartments across 2,000 residential buildings.



Once again, the Dallas metro area boasts the most apartments delivered—a total of 177,400 last decade, with 52,600 in Dallas. The city with the most apartments built last decade is Houston with 73,000, while the Houston metro area saw 131,300 units completed since 2010. The Austin metro had 85,900 apartments delivered between 2010 and 2020, 57,200 of them in the city of Austin.

Suburban Texas also contributes to the state’s ongoing apartment boom. In fact, smaller cities like Frisco and Georgetown are among the eight Texas cities in the Top 20 U.S. suburbs that introduced the most apartments over the past five years.

Good deals on high-end and spacious apartments make Texas an attractive relocation option

The growing tech business sector is just one of the reasons Californians could consider trading the West Coast for the South. Reasons range from retirement plans and to tax purposes to rent prices.

Compared to California, Texas has the advantage of offering more value for money in terms of upscale rentals. To put things in perspective, a two bedroom, two bathroom apartment in a high-end building goes for around $1,600 in major cities like Dallas, Houston, Austin, San Antonio and Fort Worth, while a three bedroom, two bathroom rents for an average of $1,800.



Of the state’s major metros, Dallas has the most high-end options for professionals planning to leave their coastal lifestyle—89,600. Dallas is closely followed by Houston metro with 303,800.

For those in search of more upscale amenities to choose from, it’s worth noting that Houston is the Texas city with the most units classified as high-end, with 186,300—more than the entire Austin metro area (157,400).

The Texas apartment boom has been going on for years and it doesn’t show signs of stopping anytime soon. Whether it’s employees following their companies or job hopefuls looking to relocate, the Texas housing landscape seems prepared to accommodate them all.

by Alexandra Ciuntu
Alexandra Ciuntu is a creative writer and researcher for RENTCafé. With a background in e-learning content writing and a passion for knowledge-sharing platforms, she has previously covered topics from prop-tech to renters’ insurance. She now enjoys researching and writing about the renter lifestyle, renter demographic shifts, and residential real estate market trends and news.

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