Texas Market Reports

Would you believe that San Antonio is the second most sought-after city for millennials? According to local media pundits and reports from Forbes, San Antonio is attracting the greatest number of millennials of any city in Texas, even beating out Austin, the original yuppie capital of the state. San Antonio, which had taken a back seat to Austin in terms of creating tech jobs and drawing millennial workers, has surged ahead in recent years. The metro has begun to appeal to a different breed of people born between 1980 and 1999. We refer to  members of this group as the “logical millennials.” While entrepreneurial in spirit, the San Antonio millennial differs from the standard millennial through his or her understanding of the need for affordable housing and a lower cost of living. The influx of this sub-type of millennials has created growth in urban areas, most notably the Pearl District, which is situated adjacent to the downtown area. The popularity of this mixed-use shopping and community destination has spurred the development of a number of new urban lifestyle projects. Frost Tower, Rising Rents Another indicator of San Antonio’s success at attracting a younger demographic is embodied in the most significant …

The story of the office market in Austin’s central business district (CBD) begins in 2008. With the national economic downturn just beginning, a new, 44-story high-rise residential building had  just been completed and the millennial generation was slowly starting to enter the workforce. At that time, the total inventory of office product in Austin’s CBD was approximately 8.44 million square feet. These properties posted a vacancy rate of about 12.9 percent. Several major factors would soon come to play a role in transforming the submarket from professional and typical into tech-savvy and hip. First, Facebook arrived in Austin in 2010, bringing with it an ethos of, “it’s not a job, it’s an adventure.” The social media giant quickly took 20,000 square feet at 300 W. 6th St., its largest office outside its Silicon Valley headquarters. Additional moves were precipitated in part by an increase in personal income taxes in California, which put the highest earners in the state at a combined state and federal income tax rate of 51.9 percent, among the highest in the nation. In addition, the age demographics of the 2010 U.S. population indicated that there were 13 percent more persons aged 18 to 24 in 2010 …

In recent months, a renaissance in the Houston’s urban core, paired with a flight to quality and focus on sustainable design, has created a perfect storm for the metro’s office sector. This revival has been combined with a renewed focus on living and working in Houston’s Central Business District (CBD), which has simultaneously driven a resurgence in both retail and mixed-use developments. Downtown Houston’s burgeoning multifamily market is one of the key drivers in Class A office development. Since 2013, downtown Houston has seen 3,355 new multifamily units hit the market. And according to industry estimates from the midway point of 2017, the multifamily market will continue to grow significantly — as much as 40 percent — by the end of this year. These trends, paired with a 6 percent increase in construction of new hotels, have created greater demand in the marketplace for mixed-use developments that offer diverse tenant mixes, including high-end retail and dining options. A Flight to Quality These shifting preferences among residents and employees within the city’s urban core has prompted a flight to high-quality, modern and energy-efficient buildings, as more tenants look for office space in Class A developments that boast top-of-the-line amenities. Over the …