According to a post in the Austin Biz Journal earlier this year, some analysis believe rental rates in Austin will stay flat. Others believe we will see a 4.5% increase in 2015. According to the city 10,000 new apartments came online in 2014 and another 8000 are slated for this year. Charles Heismath – president of Capitol Market Research – told the Statesman occupancy rates are now down to 94 percent and his prediction is it will stay stagnant. Of course, there are many variables when analyzing occupancy and rental rates. The Statesman reported late last year that we had an average of 100 plus people moving to our city. That equates to 36,000+ and those people will need somewhere to live. With the average inventory of homes available at only 3.1 months these folks will probably lease before they buy. It goes back to the simple supply and demand concept. Unless we have a major shift in our employment rates in Austin or the city is no longer an attractive place to live, I don’t see it slowing down for the foreseeable future.