By Juliana Vasquez | Staff Writer
From amenities to leases, many students in college house hunt unprepared.
Potential renters face some interesting obstacles this upcoming housing season as they guess when prices will be lowest and weigh factors like distance from campus, amenities and square footage. Aside from the more exciting aspects of imagining your future home, slowly rising prices are creeping up to spoil students’ fun.
Clinical Associate Professor of Economics and Graduate Program Director Dr. Finley Edwards said increasing housing prices can be attributed to supply and demand.
“The increase in housing prices is largely a function of the supply side,” Edwards said. “The amount of housing available has not increased as fast as the amount of people looking for housing.”
This issue is only more prominent in college towns, with the housing closer to campus being more attractive to potential renters — and more expensive. Baylor provides a unique example of this demand slowly rising since its student population has grown approximately 23% over the last decade.
W. H. Smith Professor of Economics Dr. James West said that as developers invest in student housing around Waco, citizens often assume rent prices will rise.
“It is a general perception that if a developer comes in and builds new houses, that’s going to raise the value of homes,” West said.
But according to West, that’s not the case, and new developments around Waco will likely have a positive effect on renter’s pockets.
“As new stock is added, it does tend to drive existing rents down, but it’s a slow process,” West said.
As renters wait for the prices to fall, they must either prepare to play the renting game or start saving their dollars now.
“A prospective renter could try to game the system by saying, ‘I’m not going to rent a unit right away, I’m going to wait for those prices to drop,'” Edwards said. “The challenge there is that the prices may not drop depending on factors outside your control.”
For students who pay their own rent, like Fort Worth sophomore Caden Clack, it’s imperative to lock in a savings plan as soon as possible.
Clack works at Dutch Bros. during the school year and over the summer to pay for his rent, tuition and other living expenses. He knew he would be providing for himself as he apartment hunted last year, and valued affordability wherever he would rent.
“I live at the Alamo Apartments,” Clack said. “Me and my roommate had friends there last year, and they recommended it to us just because it’s cheap [and] has its own dedicated parking,” Clack said. “It’s pretty dingy, but it’s cheap and that’s what really mattered.”
For students looking for next year’s housing right now, Clack advised them to do their research and ask upperclassmen advice.
“Talk to people who come before you,” Clack said. “Make sure you’re very prepared, and don’t settle for the first thing.”
