Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutSummary of Bozeman Rental Housing Survey 2014 BOZEMAN RENTAL HOUSING SURVEY, 2014 SUMMARY This document summarizes the data collected for the 2014 Bozeman Rental Housing Survey. The companion Excel data file, submitted electronically to the City of Bozeman/HRDC Bozeman contains full data tables, summary data tables, a list of survey participants, and a Users’ Guide to help readers work with the data file. Prepared by: Open Window Consulting, LLC Bozeman Rental Housing Survey, 2014 Summary Prepared by: Open Window Consulting, LLC Page 1 of 9 Properties Surveyed (see Table 1, Figure 1): Data was collected from a total of 44 properties within the Bozeman city limits, with a total of 2,554 rental units. Market-rate properties (21) accounted for 48% of the properties and half of the rental units (1,277). Three of these properties were mobile home parks, with 137 units total. The remaining 18 properties, generally referred to as “Large Multifamily Properties”, are rental properties with 10 or more units each. Subsidized properties (14) comprised 32% of the properties and 27% of all units. Three of these properties, with a total of 196 units, rent only to seniors and the disabled. Non-residence hall student housing properties (9), operated by MSU Family & Graduate Housing, comprised 20% of the properties and 23% of all units surveyed. Table 1. Rental Properties Surveyed Number of Properties Surveyed Total Number of Units Properties Renting Only to Seniors/ Disabled Properties with Full Utilities Included Properties with Partial Utilities Included Properties With Fee for "Additional Occupants" All 44 2554 3 15 11 2 Subsidized Properties 14 693 3 8 5 0 Student Housing (Non- Residence Hall) 9 584 -- 5 3 0 Market-Rate Properties 21 1277 0 2 3 2 Utilities and Fees (see Table 1): Almost all subsidized properties included either full utilities (2/3 of properties) or partial utilities (1/4 of properties) in the monthly rental cost. Among student housing Market Rate Student Housing Subsidized Subsidized Senior/Disabled Only Figure 1. Market Segments of Rental Units Surveyed Bozeman Rental Housing Survey, 2014 Summary Prepared by: Open Window Consulting, LLC Page 2 of 9 properties, too, utilities are largely included in rent, with over half including full utilities and 1/3 including partial utilities. By contrast, among market-rate properties only 2 of 21 (10%) include full utilities and only 3 (<15%) include partial utilities. Further, 2 market-rate properties charge an additional fee for each “additional occupant” (e.g., more than two tenants in a two-bedroom unit). Stock of Rental Units (see Table 2, Figure 2): Across all types of properties, two thirds of all rental units in the survey were 2-bedroom units. One-bedroom units comprised almost 30% of all units, and 3- bedroom units comprised almost 18%. Efficiency units made up less than 5% of the total surveyed units, and were found only in subsidized properties. Units with four or more bedrooms comprised less than 1% of the total sample, split evenly between the subsidized and market-rate properties. The number of bedrooms was unknown for 214 units (almost 11% of the total survey), all in the market-rate segment. Table 2. Rental Units Surveyed Total * Efficiency 1-Bedroom 2-Bedroom 3-Bedroom 4+ Bedroom Total 1970 83 587 1310 347 13 Subsidized Units 693 34 345 260 47 7 Point-in-Time Vacancies 5 0 4 1 0 0 Point-in-Time Waiting Lists † 155 † † † † † Student Housing (Non-Residence Halls) 584 0 106 400 78 0 Point-in-Time Vacancies 0 0 0 0 0 0 Market-Rate Units 1277 49 136 650 222 6 Point-in-Time Vacancies 0 0 0 0 0 0 * Unit totals do not add to overall total due to missing data. ** Rental rates in subsidized rental units vary based upon tenant income and therefore cannot be averaged. See Footnote 1 for the method of calculating weighted average rents. † Waiting lists are currently maintained only by five subsidized properties surveyed. Waiting lists are not specific to the unit size. Applicants may be on more than one list. ‡ Weighted average rental rates do not include properties for which the number of same-size units was not available. See Footnote 1 for the method of calculating weighted average rents. The distribution of unit sizes varied across the different rental segments, as shown in Figure 2. Two- bedroom units predominated in student housing and market-rate rental units, but the majority of Bozeman Rental Housing Survey, 2014 Summary Prepared by: Open Window Consulting, LLC Page 3 of 9 subsidized units surveyed are one-bedrooms. The majority (222 of 347, or 64%) of 3-bedroom units are found in market-rate properties. Only 13 units across all market segments in the survey have four or more bedrooms; however, it is important to note that the survey did not capture single family homes or townhouse/condos in the market-rate segment, which are more likely to have 4+ bedrooms. Figure 2. Stock of Housing by Market Segment and Unit Size Vacancies and Waiting Lists (see Table 2): The vacancy rate is effectively zero across all property types and unit sizes. When the survey was conducted in July/August 2014, no student housing or market-rate properties reported any vacancies. The market rate properties surveyed do not maintain waiting lists, so unmet demand in this segment cannot be estimated. Two subsidized properties reported a total of 5 currently vacant units; however, six other subsidized properties that keep waiting lists reported a total of 155 applicants on those lists. To avoid double-counting it must be noted that a given applicant may be on more than one waiting list; however, because one property has a waiting list of 100 applicants it is safe to conclude that applicants exceed vacancies. The exact unmet demand cannot easily be determined. 0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200 1400 Total Survey Subsidized Units Student Housing Units Market-Rate UnitsNumber of Rental Units in Survey Efficiency 1-Bedroom 2-Bedroom 3-Bedroom 4+ Bedroom Unknown Bozeman Rental Housing Survey, 2014 Summary Prepared by: Open Window Consulting, LLC Page 4 of 9 Rental Costs (see Table 3, Figure 3, Figure 4): The average price used in this study uses a weighted average, which averages the price of all units, rather than all properties.1 Please note that the weighted average rental costs and the median rental costs in the market-rate segment do not include all units in the sample because some properties did not provide detailed data on the number of units in each size category. Rental prices cannot be analyzed in the subsidized segment because rent is based on tenant income and therefore varies with each tenant. Table 3. Rental Prices by Unit Sizes and Market Segment Weighted Average ($/mo.) Median Rate ($/mo.) Low Rate ($/mo.) High Rate ($/mo.) Efficiency Units Student Housing Units (Non-Residence Halls) -- -- -- -- Market-Rate Units 549 575 362 750 One-Bedroom Units Student Housing Units (Non-Residence Halls) 550 550 550 550 Market-Rate Units 597 650 362 870 Two-Bedroom Units Student Housing Units (Non-Residence Halls) 602 624 490 705 Market-Rate Units 817 740 575 1500 Three-Bedroom Units Student Housing Units (Non-Residence Halls) 711 745 490 745 Market-Rate Units 1035 950 650 1349 Four + Bedroom Units Student Housing Units (Non-Residence Halls) -- -- -- -- Market-Rate Units 1400 1400 1400 1400 1 The weighted average was calculated in the following way using Excel: (rental price of a 1-bedroom in property A) x (number of 1-bedroom units in property A) = A (rental price of a 1-bedroom in property B) x (number of 1-bedroom units in property B) = B And so on through all properties… _...Z__ These products are all added together… sum of A-Z Then divided by the total number of 1-bedroom units in the whole sample /(sum of all 1-bedroom units) to get the weighted average rent for 1-bedroom units. Bozeman Rental Housing Survey, 2014 Summary Prepared by: Open Window Consulting, LLC Page 5 of 9 Figure 3. Weighted Average Rental Price by Unit Size and Market Segment Figure 4. Median Rental Price by Unit Size and Market Segment $0 $200 $400 $600 $800 $1,000 $1,200 $1,400 $1,600 Efficiency Units 1 Bedroom Units 2 Bedroom Units 3 Bedroom Units 4 Bedroom UnitsWeighted Average Monthly Rent Market-Rate Student Housing $0 $200 $400 $600 $800 $1,000 $1,200 $1,400 $1,600 Efficiency Units 1 Bedroom Units 2 Bedroom Units 3 Bedroom Units 4 Bedroom UnitsMedian Monthly Rent Market-Rate Student Housing Bozeman Rental Housing Survey, 2014 Summary Prepared by: Open Window Consulting, LLC Page 6 of 9 The weighted average monthly rent for an efficiency unit in a market-rate property is $549. It is important to note that this weighted average does not include one large property because the number of efficiency units was not provided by the property manager. Inclusion of this property would have pulled up the average price due to its significantly higher price of $750. The median price of an efficiency unit in a market-rate property is $575. Because 40 of the 49 units included in the median have a price of $575, inclusion of the additional property may not affect the median. The weighted average monthly rent for a one-bedroom unit in a market-rate property is $597 and the median is $650. Again, the weighted average in the market-rate segment would be higher were full data available for the large property with the top-end price ($870); however, due to the distribution of prices, this additional property is unlikely to affect the median. Rent in a student housing unit is $550. With the sample in this segment drawn from one property only, the median and average are the same. Note that all of the one-bedroom units in student housing (106) and three quarters of those in subsidized properties (259) include full utilities in the rent price, versus one-fifth of the units in market- rate properties (28). The remaining one-bedroom units in subsidized properties (86) include partial utilities (water/sewer/trash), as do at least 25 units (18%) in market-rate properties. The weighted average monthly rent for a two-bedroom unit in a market-rate property is $817, and the median rent is $740. Again, if full data allowed inclusion of the large property at the high end of the price range ($1,025) the weighted average in the market-rate segment would be higher but the median is unlikely to change. In student housing the weighted average rent is $602 and the median is $624. In the subsidized segment, 68% of units (178) include full utilities and almost 10% (25 units) include partial utilities. In student housing, 64% of units (256) include full utilities, while the remainder (144 units) include partial utilities. In the market-rate sample, almost 11% of units (69) include full utilities and at least 16% (108 units) include partial utilities. The weighted average monthly rent for a three-bedroom unit in a market-rate property is $1,035 and the median is $950. Inclusion of the large property with incomplete data would not skew the weighted average in this category as significantly as in other unit size categories because its three-bedroom price of $1,155 is closer to the category’s weighted average. Due to the distribution of prices, however, the additional property would raise the median price to $1,050 if it had seven or more 3-bedroom units. In student housing the weighted average monthly rent is $711 and the median is $745. In the subsidized segment, almost 60% of units (28) include full utilities while 9% (4 units) include partial utilities. In student housing, none of the units included full utilities but 38% of units (30) include partial utilities. In the market-rate segment 17% of units (37) in the sample include full utilities and an unknown number include partial utilities. Bozeman Rental Housing Survey, 2014 Summary Prepared by: Open Window Consulting, LLC Page 7 of 9 Only six units captured in the market-rate sample have 4+ bedrooms. These units are all in a single sampled property and are priced at $1,400 per month, with no utilities included. Student housing offers no units of this size. Full utilities are included in the seven units found in two subsidized properties. Mobile Home Parks (see Table 4, Figure 5, Figure 6): The sample of market-rate properties included three mobile home parks and 18 other properties (generally referred to as “large multifamily properties”) within the Bozeman city limits. The data confirms that units in mobile home parks are generally less expensive to rent than those in other properties. In this sample the weighted average rent in mobile home parks is 25% lower for one bedroom units, 20% lower for two-bedroom units, and 15% lower for three-bedroom units, compared to units in the large multifamily properties. Table 4. Market-Rate Units: Mobile Home Parks vs. Large Multifamily Properties Total * Efficiency 1-Bedroom 2-Bedroom 3-Bedroom 4+ Bedroom Mobile Home Park Units (Number) 137 0 15 46 76 0 Weighted Average Rental Rate ($/mo) ‡ N/A -- $ 555 $ 663 $ 930 -- Large Multifamily Property Units (Number) 1140 49 121 604 146 6 Weighted Average Rental Rate ($/mo) ‡ N/A $ 549 $ 743 $ 829 $ 1,090 $ 1,400 * Unit totals do not add to overall total due to unavailable data. ‡ Weighted average rental rates do not include properties for which the number of same-size units was not available. Bozeman Rental Housing Survey, 2014 Summary Prepared by: Open Window Consulting, LLC Page 8 of 9 Figure 5. Market-Rate Units: Number of Units in Large Multifamily Properties and Mobile Home Parks Figure 6. Market-Rate Units: Rental Prices in Large Multifamily Properties vs. Mobile Home Parks 0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 Efficiency Units 1-Bedroom Units 2-Bedroom Units 3-Bedroom Units 4+ Bedroom UnitsNumber of Rental Units in Survey Mobile Home Parks Large Multifamily Properties $0 $200 $400 $600 $800 $1,000 $1,200 $1,400 $1,600 Weighted Average Monthly Rent Large Multifamily Properties Mobile Home Parks Bozeman Rental Housing Survey, 2014 Summary Prepared by: Open Window Consulting, LLC Page 9 of 9 Limitations in the methodology and data: 1. The sample of market-rate properties should not be considered a representative sample of all market-rate rentals in Bozeman. The sample was taken only from one segment of this market and significant differences exist between the large multifamily properties and mobile home parks that were sampled and other segments such as townhouse/condos, single family homes, or the accessory apartments that are abundant throughout the city. The data, therefore, should not be used to make generalized conclusions regarding the whole rental market in Bozeman. 2. The data provided by respondents was not always complete and in some cases it was apparent that the respondent was providing approximate data. This is always a hazard with survey data, but could be improved in the future by conducting the survey during a slow time of year for property managers. Most commented that July and August are the two busiest months, and several declined to participate due to the workload of the busy season. October and November were generally sited as better, less-busy months.