TIL that 40% of remote workers in Austin pay more than 50% of their income on rent, according to a city report I read yesterday

I was looking at the Austin Board of Realtors data and it hit me that all those cheap co-living spots are actually just masking a deeper problem where landlords know we're desperate for short-term leases, so they jack up rates with zero consequences.

3 comments

3 Comments

rowan_ross17d ago

Co-living spots" ... yeah I'm one of those people paying way too much for a room with a shared toilet and calling it a win.

finleym3717d ago

Honestly, I gotta push back on that "people keep paying it" part. You make it sound like we all have a choice, but where I live the difference between a shared room in a co-living spot and a studio is like a thousand bucks a month. Most people aren't paying high rent because they're bad at negotiating, they're paying it because the cheap places straight up don't exist anymore. Ngl, if you're in a city with good jobs, the landlords know you either pay or leave the area entirely. Tbh, it's more like the system is built to keep prices high than people just being dumb with their money.

ross.kim17d ago

And honestly, rent is only high because people keep paying it. If half those co-living spots sat empty for a month, you'd see prices drop real fast.