A look at Houston neighborhoods with the most apartment construction
Recent data from apartment consulting firm MPF Research shows four parts of Houston that look to be the most vulnerable to a slowdown.
Those neighborhoods are Downtown/West Inner Loop, Greenway Plaza/Upper Kirby, The Woodlands and Katy. They have a high percentage of construction under way while already having added thousands of units in recent years, the data shows.
A slowdown, which would translate to lower rents — especially in high-end complexes, has already started in some of those areas that saw flat or declining rents last year. Other neighborhoods expecting substantial new supply are Memorial, Spring/Tomball and Rosenberg/Richmond.
As Houston’s energy-driven economy faces a much slower year, Carrollton-based MPF recently released a mulifamily report that called Houston the “wild card for 2015.”
More than 33,500 apartments are under construction here and 23,420 of them are expected to be available this year, nearly double last year’s openings.
The following chart from MPF shows multifamily market statistics by neighborhood:
| Near-Term | ||||
| Existing | 2010-2014 | Ongoing | Inventory | |
| Units | Completions | Construction | Growth Rate | |
| Houston, TX | 612,506 | 40,968 | 33,586 | 5.5% |
| Downtown/West Inner Loop | 28,597 | 5,346 | 7,072 | 24.7% |
| East Inner Loop | 8,851 | 423 | 786 | 8.9% |
| Medical Center/University | 34,988 | 3,146 | 2,345 | 6.7% |
| Greenway Plaza/Upper Kirby | 15,574 | 3,625 | 2,928 | 18.8% |
| Galleria/Uptown | 23,481 | 2,396 | 1,756 | 7.5% |
| Westchase | 27,377 | 1,152 | 1,275 | 4.7% |
| Memorial | 9,291 | 956 | 3,861 | 41.6% |
| Spring Branch/Bear Creek | 33,496 | 1,218 | 932 | 2.8% |
| Northwest Houston | 27,621 | 615 | 0 | 0.0% |
| North Central Houston | 25,169 | 172 | 0 | 0.0% |
| Northeast Houston | 13,469 | 568 | 168 | 1.2% |
| Pasadena/Southeast Houston | 31,297 | 880 | 252 | 0.8% |
| Hobby Airport | 17,782 | 682 | 78 | 0.4% |
| Gulfton/Westbury | 32,294 | 224 | 0 | 0.0% |
| Sharpstown/Fondren Southwest | 35,618 | 293 | 0 | 0.0% |
| Alief | 16,981 | 274 | 0 | 0.0% |
| Far West Houston | 28,245 | 1,314 | 1,570 | 5.6% |
| Katy | 13,051 | 3,630 | 1,747 | 13.4% |
| Cypress/Waller | 5,500 | 838 | 294 | 5.3% |
| Champions West | 18,733 | 1,529 | 0 | 0.0% |
| Champions East | 28,092 | 582 | 0 | 0.0% |
| Spring/Tomball | 8,540 | 1,102 | 2,156 | 25.2% |
| The Woodlands | 12,457 | 1,652 | 1,836 | 14.7% |
| Conroe/Montgomery County | 9,543 | 1,302 | 828 | 8.7% |
| Humble/Kingwood | 14,222 | 1,658 | 438 | 3.1% |
| Baytown | 9,236 | 788 | 320 | 3.5% |
| Clear Lake | 25,698 | 1,073 | 116 | 0.5% |
| Galveston/Texas City | 16,596 | 263 | 282 | 1.7% |
| Friendswood/Pearland/Alvin | 16,036 | 2,247 | 350 | 2.2% |
| Brazosport | 8,039 | 96 | 0 | 0.0% |
| Sugar Land/Stafford | 10,855 | 372 | 1,010 | 9.3% |
| Rosenberg/Richmond | 5,777 | 552 | 1,186 | 20.5% |