Austin, Texas
Austin Apartment Loans in 2026
Twelve consecutive quarters of falling metro effective rents ended in 2026's second quarter, and Austin apartment loans are now written against a market whose construction pipeline is roughly half its 2024 peak. Loans begin at $1,500,000, leverage can stretch to 80% LTV, and pricing on a fully stabilized building opens at 6.12% once bank, agency, HUD, CMBS and bridge quotes are set against each other. Communities too big for these programs move to Austin multifamily loans; properties outside the city go to Texas apartment loans; and commercial mortgage rates for each program are listed separately.
Get a Free QuoteAustin Jobs, Vacancy and the 2026 Construction Pullback
Payroll employment in the Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos metro stood at 1,416,600 for September 2026 on preliminary BLS data, up 1.1% from twelve months before but below June's 1.9% annual pace. Mining, logging and construction grew 4.5% and manufacturing 2.9%, while government lost 2.9%. Within city limits, the Census Bureau's July 1, 2025 estimate of 1,002,632 people is 4.6% above its April 2020 base.
HUD's comprehensive metro analysis, dated July 1, 2024, judged apartment conditions soft, with 14.1% vacancy for 2024's second quarter after roughly 20,950 units opened in 2023. A brokerage report for April through June 2026 shows metro vacancy down to 10.3%, 160 basis points lower than a year before, as absorption set a new quarterly high of nearly 8,000 market-rate units, and the metro's construction pipeline stood at roughly 18,100 units at midyear, 46% below its 2024 high.
Austin Rents, UT Enrollment and the Light Rail Timeline
Austin's median rent of $1,326, from Apartment List's October 2026 report, sits 2.3% under a year earlier, with medians of $1,174 for one-bedrooms and $1,429 for two-bedrooms. RentCafe's September 30, 2026 update, which covers buildings with 50-plus apartments, shows a $1,646 average, a 1.56% annual decline.
HUD's employer table, compiled from Opportunity Austin's June 2024 data, is led by the State of Texas (63,850, public universities included) and UT Austin (23,925), with the City of Austin's 15,427 employees further down; HUD places Tesla's headquarters in Del Valle and Samsung's $17 billion plant in the nearby city of Taylor. UT's fall 2025 enrollment, 55,000, was a high for its 142-year history, and in January 2026 the first phase of Austin Light Rail, a 9.8-mile, 15-station line, cleared federal environmental review, with construction due in 2027 and service in 2033.
Austin Apartment Loan Rates
Rates updated as of November 8, 2026
With 2026 taxes on city property inside Austin ISD adding up to about $2.12 for every $100 of taxable value, the figures below assume a stabilized Austin building whose collections cover that bill comfortably.
| Loan Type | Rate* | Max LTV |
|---|---|---|
| 5 Year Fixed | 6.52% | Up to 80% |
| 7 Year Fixed | 6.55% | Up to 80% |
| 10 Year Fixed | 6.59% | Up to 80% |
- Cash-out refinances are acceptable
- Interest-only and non-recourse options
- Minimum 1.25x debt-service-coverage ratio
See Austin Multifamily Rates Over $6 Million, Starting at 6.12%
Rates last updated November 8, 2026. Rates and maximum LTV shown represent our best-case pricing scenarios. Actual rates, LTV, and loan terms are subject to underwriting approval and may vary.
Hyde Park, Bouldin Creek and the Rest of Austin's Planning Areas
West University posts the highest neighborhood average in RentCafe's September 2026 data, $3,497, ahead of Downtown ($3,331) and Bouldin Creek ($2,619), while Hyde Park averages $1,329 and Georgian Acres ($945) sits near the bottom. Hyde Park, platted in 1891 and marketed under Monroe Martin Shipe, whose streetcar line to downtown was completed that year, is a City local historic district where 480 of 640 properties were judged contributing at designation. In Southeast Austin, where the Halloween 2013 flood hit Onion Creek hard, the council approved buyouts in March 2015 at a cost of up to $60 million.
Planning areas on our Austin lending map, all inside city limits:
- Downtown
- West University
- Hancock
- Hyde Park
- North Loop
- Upper Boggy Creek
- Holly
- East Cesar Chavez
- Bouldin Creek
- St. Edwards
- Barton Hills
- Old West Austin
- Windsor Road
- Rosedale
- Allandale
- Crestview
- Brentwood
- East Oak Hill
Pricing an Austin Apartment Loan Across Lender Types
New lease-ups from the 2023 to 2025 surge and older central complexes rarely land with the same lender, so Austin apartment loans go through each program below first:
| Program | Typical rate* | Max leverage | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fannie Mae Small Loan | 6.52% | Up to 80% | Non-recourse, fixed to 30 yrs |
| Freddie Mac SBL | 6.60% | Up to 80% | $2M to $10M small balance |
| FHA / HUD | 6.74% | Up to 85% | Highest leverage, longest term |
| Bank / portfolio | 6.50% | Up to 75% | Flexible, value-add |
| Bridge | 9.00% | Up to 80% LTC | Reposition, lease-up |
Lenders here still expect debt-service coverage of at least 1.25x, now tested against a City of Austin rate of 57.9948 cents per $100 for 2026, roughly 5.6 cents above 2025. When the balance outgrows these programs, Austin multifamily loans picks up the file.
Rates last updated November 8, 2026. Rates and maximum LTV shown represent our best-case pricing scenarios. Actual rates, LTV, and loan terms are subject to underwriting approval and may vary.
Austin Tax Votes, Rental Enforcement, Zoning Reform and Flood Maps
Five rates on one bill. The Travis Central Appraisal District began mailing 2026 notices to more than 427,000 owners in late March, and its roll grew 5.48% to $482 billion, led by health care, industrial and office property. The 2026 rates per $100 are 57.9948 cents for the City of Austin, 38.6210 for Travis County, 13.2863 for Central Health, 91.84 for Austin ISD and 10.3643 for Austin Community College: about $2.12 combined, or roughly $21,211 a year on each $1 million of taxable value.
Proposition Q and after. Voters rejected Proposition Q, a 57.4-cent rate set five cents above what state law allows without an election, on November 4, 2025, with a little over 63% voting no; the council then adopted 52.4017 cents. Community Impact reports the 2026 rate is the most allowed without voter approval. Tax Code 23.231 limits appraisal growth on non-homestead real property to 20% a year when the property falls under a ceiling set at $5 million in 2024, but that limit lapses at the end of 2026.
Repeat Offender Program. Since 2013, a rental not occupied by its owner must register after drawing, within 24 months, five or more notices of violation for dangerous or habitability-impairing conditions on separate days, two or more such notices not corrected on time, or two or more citations. Registration and each renewal cost $1,157, inspections are annual, listings last at least two years, a buyer has 30 days to re-register, and a suspended or revoked registration bars leasing vacant units.
HOME and compatibility. HOME Phase 1, adopted December 7, 2023, allows up to three homes on SF-1, SF-2 and SF-3 lots; Phase 2, adopted May 16, 2024, permits one home on as little as 1,800 square feet, against a 5,750-square-foot minimum dating to 1946. The council also cut the compatibility distance, inside which building height is capped near single-family homes, from 540 feet to 75 feet.
Floodplains after Atlas 14. The City updated its floodplain rules in November 2019 in response to NOAA's Atlas 14 study and regulates to the current FEMA 500-year floodplain until new maps are done. Insurance still follows FEMA's maps: where a government-backed loan finances property inside a high-risk A or V zone, a policy is required, and the NFIP will insure no more than $500,000 of building value when a structure holds five or more units. Floods on October 31, 2013 killed five people in Austin and damaged more than 500 homes.
State law in brief. A Texas city can adopt rent control only if a disaster produces a housing emergency and the governor signs off (Local Government Code 214.902), and a deed-of-trust lender can foreclose at a first-Tuesday public auction once 21 days' notice has run (Property Code 51.002).
Financing Options in Austin
Find your Austin property among the cards below:
Owners with buildings in Lubbock, Plano or Fort Worth can continue on Texas apartment loans.
What an Austin Refinancing Has to Clear in 2026
When an Austin apartment loan is refinanced in the coming months, the 2026 bill sets the expense line: the city's share went to 57.9948 cents per $100 from 52.4017, and Central Health's to 13.2863 from 11.8023. We start with the TCAD notice and trailing rent roll, then check the Repeat Offender list, since a suspended registration blocks leasing of vacant units.
As of June 2024, HUD reported about 40% of market-rate Travis County properties offering concessions, so loans are sized on collections net of those discounts. A building still leasing up from the 2023 to 2025 deliveries may need bridge debt until it qualifies for agency terms.
Austin Apartment Building Loans for Lease-Ups, High-Rises and Older Complexes
HUD's July 2024 analysis counted about 78,750 rental units added across the metro since the second quarter of 2020, a 28% rise in inventory, and the 2024 American Community Survey counts 58.8% of occupied Austin homes as rentals. We finance:
- Garden and mid-rise communities still in lease-up
- Downtown high-rise apartment buildings
- Student-oriented buildings near UT Austin
- Older garden-style apartment complexes
- Mixed-use buildings near planned light-rail stations
- Income-restricted and affordable properties
The Multifamily Route for Large Austin Properties
Past the small-balance range, an Austin community can attract Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Agency debt here can reach 80% LTV, terms can run 30 years, and the borrower is liable only under customary carve-outs. CMBS loans are non-recourse too, and bank terms flex, often with recourse. For the slowest payoff, HUD's FHA programs lead: a loan can be fully amortized within 40 years on the FHA Risk Share terms that Fannie Mae lists.
Underwriters on big Austin properties probe lease-up history, concessions and the 2026 tax line. See Austin multifamily loans for structures, then compare the agencies on Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae.
Austin Multifamily Loan Rates
For larger balances, over $6 million
Austin Property Loans Outside the Apartment Sector
Non-apartment collateral in Austin, from medical offices to hotels and warehouses, is shopped the same way:
Nearby Apartment Loan Markets
San Antonio, El Paso, Fort Worth and other Texas cities each have an apartment loan page, linked below with the state and national lists:
Houston · Dallas · San Antonio · El Paso · Lubbock · Plano · Arlington · Fort Worth · All Texas · Other U.S. cities
Recent Apartment Loan Closings
At least one recent closing below is in Texas, though none is in the Austin area, and each drew bids from several competing lenders.
What Our Clients Say
“I am a veterinarian who purchased an existing practice. I was surprised to find a company that offered 100% financing at a good rate, with great terms and rates for medical office financing.”
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Gary M. · Portland, OR“Select Commercial offered 100% financing for my medical practice when my bank would have required 20% down. They delivered something my bank could not, and handled everything professionally.”
John C. · Boston, MAGet Your Austin Apartment Loan Quote
Lenders quoting Austin buildings ask first for the rent roll with concessions marked, a year of monthly operating statements, the 2026 TCAD notice and tax bill, a FEMA flood zone determination and any Repeat Offender records, so start the package there.
- No application or processing fees
- Written answers within 48 hours
- For 5+ unit and commercial properties, $1.5M and up