March 2026 Company Newsletter
Company Update
After 13 years, our wonderful Office Administrator, Deborah Thornton, has retired from our team. It’s hard to imagine the office without her! Deborah’s dedication and care she’s extended to our residents and clients has made a lasting impact on all of us. We are so appreciative of everything she’s done and, while we’ll miss her dearly, we’re thrilled for her to enjoy her retirement to the fullest.
Save Money on Property Taxes
The deadline to have us coordinate your property taxes is the 28th of this month. If you aren’t having your property taxes protested, I can guarantee that you are over spending on your annual property tax bills. If your mortgage company is paying these for you, every month you’re overpaying into your escrow account each month. We’re working on notifying those clients that aren’t subscribed, if you aren’t, please notify your property manager today!
Summer Is Coming
Turnover season is just around the corner! If you’re going to have a vacancy this summer, we strongly encourage you to review your most recent property survey for recommendations from your property manager on the pending turnover. We’re making more of a push this summer to pre-lease properties, so listing them while occupied. If the home isn’t being pre-leased, there is usually work needed or another factor that means waiting for the vacancy puts your home in the best light possible.
March Rental Market Update
For the City of Austin market area, we’re seeing days on market trend downwards, following their usual seasonal trends. Prices seem to be showing some small up ticks, but we’ll need to get further along into the summer cycle to see how this pans out.
Looking to the future, it looks like the glut in supply of new apartment units in the market is trending off. While in 2025 there were about 17,500 new units that came online to the market, in 2026 estimations are pointing towards about 4,600 new units. In 2024, there were 33,000 new units that came online. This glut of new units coming onto the market has depressed prices on the market, but its looking like we’re getting closer to rebalancing. It does look like we can hopefully expect rental rates to start trending up again later this year, or inside of 2027. This information comes from The Wall Street Journal, and the Austin Business Journal.
Sales Market Statement – Mike Minns
Real Estate recovery seems paused, again, for now.
The Federal Reserve will likely implement a few small rate cuts later this year, but these are unlikely to positively impact the real estate market, as they will occur after the sales season. Mortgage rates worsened as oil prices increased. With rising oil prices there’s a risk that inflation could be reignited, which poses a setback for the economic recovery. We’re hoping the conflict in Iran is short-lived and that no troops are deployed, as that would worsen the situation domestically.
Interestingly, despite the negative news, there has been a slight increase in buyer traffic over the last week. As the sales season begins, its starting to look like higher volume might have occurred, that isn’t now, if the war hadn't started. As a result, the rental market and the sales market are both still quite slow as people seek stability in light of market turbidity.
If you need to sell, you can, but generally, the best advice for property owners is to sit tight and wait for the market to recover. If you're considering investing cash, there may still be opportunities to buy multi-family or single-family properties at discounts from peak prices. Single-family homes typically do not cash flow with a 20% down payment; larger deposits are usually necessary for positive cash flow right now. Therefore, purchasing at a discount from the peak makes it palatable.
~ Mike Minns, Atlas Realty
Warmest regards,
Your Rollingwood Management Team
See your team members here: https://rollingwoodmanagement.com/management-team