Baseline edition · published August 23, 2026
Austin Rent Report: August 2026
The first edition of our monthly report: where Austin starting rents, free rent offers and building classes stand as our permanent tracking begins. Data from our daily pricing: bought from data providers, collected from community websites and researched by our team.
Data reviewed by Ross Quade, Licensed Apartment Locator (TREC #679806)How we get our data
The deal climate #
65.2% of the 1,297 priced communities we track are running a move-in special right now, and the average offer is 7.2 weeks of free rent. The heaviest concentration is in Manor, where 88.2% of priced communities are offering something, followed by Pflugerville at 87.5% and Southeast at 73.8%.
Class A communities discount hardest: 72.3% are running a special, against 60.3% of Class B and 54.1% of Class C. New buildings fill up by paying renters to move in, and right now the average Class A special is 7.8 weeks free.
What starting rents look like #
The citywide median starting rent is $1,185 for Class A, $1,039 for Class B and $895 for Class C. The cheapest published starting rent among priced Class A communities is $500, which shows how wide the range inside a single class runs.
East carries the lowest area median at $930, and Downtown the highest at $1,875.
AustinApartments.com price ledger, updated daily.
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<a href="https://austinapartments.com/reports/2026-08">
<img src="https://austinapartments.com/reports/2026-08/chart-1.svg"
alt="Median starting rent by building class, August 2026 - AustinApartments.com" style="max-width:100%" />
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<p>Chart: <a href="https://austinapartments.com/reports/2026-08">AustinApartments.com Austin Rent Report</a></p>Move-in specials from our daily pricing data.
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<a href="https://austinapartments.com/reports/2026-08">
<img src="https://austinapartments.com/reports/2026-08/chart-2.svg"
alt="Share of communities running a special, by area - AustinApartments.com" style="max-width:100%" />
</a>
<p>Chart: <a href="https://austinapartments.com/reports/2026-08">AustinApartments.com Austin Rent Report</a></p>Methodology
Our pricing and move-in specials come from three places, updated daily: data we buy from data providers, our own collection from community websites, and our team's research. Statistics cover the 1,297 communities in our full directory with a currently displayable starting rent, including the 55+ and fully income-restricted communities our general search leaves out. Class ratings follow standard industry class conventions. Every figure is computed from the prices and specials we recorded, and none of it is backfilled. Tracking began August 2026.
Full sourcing for every dataset on this site: how we get our data.