Texas dominates apartment inventory growth, with 5 of the top 8 submarkets

🫣 We're back this Tax Day! Today, we're diving into Texas' dominance in apartment inventory, Redfin and Zillow's new listing rules, and an unexpected owl ambassador.

Today's newsletter is 692 words — a 2.5-minute read.

1. Texas dominates apartment inventory growth, with 5 of the top 8 submarkets

According to the latest RealPage analysis, eight of the nation’s largest apartment submarkets have seen inventory growth of 50% or more over the past five years.

Five of the eight submarkets with outsized growth are in Texas, East Austin's apartment inventory nearly doubled, rising 92.5% to 30,571 units.

Here is a breakdown of the Texas large submarket with big inventory growth:

2. Redfin to follow Zillow as it rolls out portal ban on some private listings

Days after Zillow rocked the real estate industry with changes to its rules on private listings, Redfin followed suit with a ban on listings that don’t begin on a multiple listing service, CEO Glenn Kelman said in a statement Monday.

The two-paragraph announcement, which also calls on multiple listing services to create a “coming-soon” designation for listings that would conceal Days on Market and historical price points data from consumers, is the latest twist to come as a result of an adjustment to NAR’s Clear Cooperation Policy last month.

Zillow announced last week it would prohibit listings that are marketed privately for longer than a day. Listings that aren’t shared with an MLS within 24 hours of being marketed would be banned “for the life of the listing,” according to Zillow’s policy.

A MESSAGE FROM DAVE YOUR MORTGAGE GUY

VA Mortgage Hack No One Talks About!

Did you know that VA buyers can use seller concessions to pay off existing debts — like judgments, credit cards, or even a car loan — at closing? Tune in for what to know!

3. Catch up quick

❄️ Austin passes ordinance requiring A/C in all homes; renters have 90 days to comply. (KVUE)

✝️ With America short 4.5 million homes, could empty churches help fill the gap? (theHustle)

🛒 IKEA to open Dallas store. (IKEA)

⚖️ Judge Bough refuses to step aside in Gibson commission lawsuit. (Reuters)

📈 These 58 markets have seen the biggest inventory shifts, giving homebuyers more power. (ResiClub)

🦉 Fun read: Athena the owl named Austin's official owl ambassador. (WildFlower)

4. Asking rents fell slightly in March, but tariffs could drive up costs for renters

According to a new report from Redfin, the median asking rent fell 0.6% year over year to $1,610 in March. This marks the 13th consecutive month of year-over-year rent changes under 1%, keeping rates below the 2022 peak of $1,705.

• Austin recorded the steepest annual decline among the 44 largest metros, with rents falling 11% to $1,420.

Despite the current stability, Redfin economists warn that looming tariffs on imported building materials may trigger a reversal in rent trends by constraining new apartment construction activity and increasing economic uncertainty.

5. The City of Dallas says a building permit fee error led to a loss of $8.6 million

Dallas' planning and permitting department revealed on Monday that a staffing error in calculating commercial remodeling permit fees will cost the city $8.6 million in lost revenue.

In 2023, the city hired a consultant, MGT, to review its fee schedule, which had remained unchanged since 2015. The City Council authorized the revamped structure in March, and the new pricing went into effect in May.

However, an error in the formula, which would typically have increased fees, instead lowered them, causing the city to lose over a million dollars in revenue each month.

The Economic Development Committee unanimously approved a request to revert to the previous permit fee structure for commercial remodels on Monday, with the addition of a 33 percent inflation adjustment. LINK

A MESSAGE FROM PACASO

Zillow's Co-Founder Wishes They Did This Before The IPO

Spencer Rascoff co-founded Zillow, scaling it into a $16b real estate giant.

But everyday investors couldn’t invest until after the IPO, missing early gains.

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