Abodo Apartments released its newest rent report, analyzing rental price trends from September to October. But, as we all know, monthly trends are somewhat volatile (especially in times of natural disasters like Hurricane Harvey) and don’t always tell the true story. Although it’s important to keep up with monthly trends, quarterly trends really start to tell a story about a local market, such as Houston.

As the fourth quarter begins, Abodo examined trends in the Houston rental market to take a close look at how the fast-growing city stacks up against the rest of the country. So, what happened in the Houston rental market last quarter, and what should we expect to happen in the wake of Hurricane Harvey?

Here are the findings:

• Rent prices in Houston decreased from July to the end of September by 12.65 percent.
• The median price of a one-bedroom apartment in Houston in July was $1,184.
• The median rent price of a one-bedroom apartment in Houston as of the end of September was $1,051.
• The median rent price of a two-bedroom apartment in Houston as of the end of September was $1,217.
• Houston ranks as the 33rd most expensive rental market in the country.

What does this tell us about the rental market in Houston going forward? Relief for renters in Houston was in progress, as the city saw some of the largest decreases in Q3; however, in the wake of Hurricane Harvey, expect rent prices to rise once again. Complexes that somehow stayed dry in the city during the massive natural disaster have now been slammed with applications for new occupants, and many people are willing to pay top-dollar to get into a livable apartment. This, in itself, will bring higher rent prices and a “landlord’s market” all across the city.

With all that said, Abodo anticipates that rent prices in Houston will reverse from the Q3 trends and take a turn for the worst for renters. Demand is high. Supply is low. And a huge number of apartments need massive repair to become livable once again. Until the supply catches up with the demand, it’s likely that renters will see large increases in available units.

To gather this data, Abodo Apartments aggregates and analyzes data from the millions of verified listings on abodo.com. Each listing is paired with a five-digit ZIP code, and within each ZIP code, Abodo calculates the average price of one-bedroom apartments that are currently available for rent within a specified time period.