Study: San Antonio's rental market now more competitive than Austin's

The Axis at The Rim is just one of the new-build apartment complexes to go up in San Antonio in recent years. Credit: Courtesy of Axis at the Rim

After years of runaway growth, demand for housing in the boomtown of Austin is subsiding — so much so that it’s now harder to find an apartment in San Antonio, a new study by rental management platform RentCafe found.

According to the analysis, Austin emerged as the easiest big Texas city in which to find housing between January and September 2025. Researchers gave the state capital a “competitive score” of just 64.3.

The score is calculated using metrics including average days of vacancy, the percentage of occupied apartments, prospective renters per vacant apartment and lease renewal rates, according to RentCafe.

Meanwhile, San Antonio has a score of 66.5.

RentCafe attributed the Alamo City’s more competitive market to more people renewing their leases than looking for new places. That, in turn, decreased market inventory.

Meanwhile, Austin’s decline in competitiveness comes down to overbuilding, according to the study. Apartments in that city have now reached a saturation point.

Houston was the most competitive rental market in Texas this year, followed by Fort Worth and Dallas. San Antonio and Austin, in respective order, rounded out the top five.

Despite real estate cooling off, RentCafe analysts predict the rental market will remain hot in 2026, especially during the peak summer months.

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Study: San Antonio’s rental market now more competitive than Austin’s

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