Houston rent prices have been rising over the past year. 

The rise in rent is relative to previous years, and the trend is not expected to slow down, but actually continue into 2022. 

“It's a supply [and] demand thing. There's renters aplenty, and so if you have a lot of traffic that are ready to lease, [landlords] don't have to offer them [concessions],” ApartmentData.com President Bruce McClenny said.

McClenny also talked about his expectations for the future. 

“What we're seeing is that the same conditions that have created this supercharged demand will probably still be in place next year” McClenny said.

ApartmentData.com released data that showed an increase of 12.8% in rental rate growth year over year. As of September 2021, Houston averaged $1,162 compared to one year ago, where it measured $1,046 on average. ApartmentData also noted that Houston multifamily establishments have decreased the amount of offerings of concessions, which consist of things like the getting the first month of rent free, waiving move-in fees, or free Wi-Fi for one year. 

There was an increase in concessions due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but as the coronavirus has subsided concessions have decreased, as reported by communityimpact.com. In the Houston area, only 200,251 units out of 699,625 total units have concessions applied to them. 

A decrease in these types of offerings is a sign that there is a high number of people currently seeking residence. It is believed that a drop in the unemployment rate from 7.8% in September of last year to 4.8% in September 2021 is driving demand for apartments, according to a report from communityimpact.com.