Houston is the No. 8 metro area in the country for new apartment construction in 2025, according to data from RentCafe.

The metro will add 14,439 units by the end of the year. While that’s a 37.6% year-over-year decrease in Houston, the metro is still the third-most active builder in Texas: Austin ranked No. 3 in the country, with about 2,000 fewer units than DFW, which ranked No. 2 with 28,958.

Most of the Bayou City’s new apartments — over 7,700 — are located in Houston proper, followed by Cypress at 1,343 units and Spring at 1,109.

via RentCafe

Houston isn’t the only southern city packing in new apartments, though. Over half of all new U.S. apartments in 2025 — which equates to over 265,000 units — are located in the south.

“Southern metros typically offer streamlined approval processes and fewer regulatory hurdles, making it easier to bring multifamily projects to market,” explained Doug Ressler, senior analyst and manager of business intelligence for Yardi Matrix. “At the same time, elevated home prices and a shortage of attainable for-sale housing are pushing more residents toward rentals. For many households, single-family ownership is simply out of reach — fueling demand for rental housing.”