What is the New Build Board?
The New Build Board is our map and card list of every ground-up new apartment in the Austin metro with first move-ins from 2024 to 2027. On Oct 25, 2026 it held 144 communities across Travis, Williamson, Hays, Bastrop, and Caldwell counties. Each card answers one question for you: what will this building cost each month, this year and next?
To answer that, every card carries the same nine fields, pulled every morning and dated:
- Base rent, the asking number before any special.
- The special in plain words, with its end date and the lease length it needs.
- Net effective rent, base rent minus free rent, spread across the lease.
- True monthly, net effective plus required fees, an electric estimate, the water charge, and parking.
- Year two at 0% and +3%, because renewals price from base rent.
- Electric setup: Austin Energy, Pedernales Electric Cooperative, Bluebonnet Electric Cooperative, Georgetown Utility Systems, or Oncor with plan choice.
- Stage and fill estimate: pre-leasing, lease-up phase, or first 24 months, with percent leased where the community reports it.
- Austin New Build Score, 0 to 100.
- Confirmation date, the last price check and the date we confirmed the special.
Which buildings count as new construction?
We use a strict line. A building is in scope only if it’s ground-up new construction with a Certificate of Occupancy issued for first move-ins between 2024 and 2027, and it’s still in pre-leasing, lease-up, or its first 24 months. Renovated older buildings, office-to-residential conversions, and renamed properties are out. That rule keeps the comparison fair: you’re weighing buildings at the same point in their life, with similar concession pressure.
Older buildings show up only as a price reference inside the math. Northmarq put Class A effective rent at $1,420 against $1,376 for Class B after concessions in Q2 2026. That $44 gap is narrow, which is why the special and the fees matter more than the label.
How does the Austin New Build Score work?
The score adds six parts, each from the feed:
| Part | Points | What it measures |
|---|
| Deal depth | 30 | Net effective vs. base rent for your lease length |
| Price vs. nearby new builds | 20 | True monthly against comparable new buildings nearby |
| Year-two risk | 15 | The size of the renewal jump at 0% and +3% |
| Lease-up stage | 15 | Where the building sits on its fill curve |
| Fee disclosure | 10 | Whether the written fee addendum matches the listing |
| Build complete | 10 | Amenities and phases finished vs. still under construction |
It never scores location, schools, reviews, or people, and no one can pay for it. Commission rates never affect the score, sort, placement, recommendations, or alerts. A high score means the numbers are favorable and well documented. It doesn’t mean a building is right for you; your commute, pets, and move date decide that.
How much do new construction apartments in Austin cost?
The honest answer is “it depends on the special and the fees,” and both move daily. That’s why we don’t publish a city-wide average as fixed text. Here’s one dated example from the board, labeled as an illustration:
Illustration, values as of Oct 25, 2026; live page uses the feed
Citizen House Decker, Far East Austin: $1,172 base and up to 10 weeks free on 12 months is $947 net effective. Required fees of $112.50 (Greystar calculator) bring it to $1,059 a month. Year two at the same base is $1,284.50, a $225 jump (+21%).
Across the market, Northmarq reported $1,316 effective rent for Q2 2026, down 5.0% year over year. Yardi put asking rent at $1,508 in May 2026. We say “effective” or “asking” every time because the two numbers answer different questions.
What changes the true monthly number?
Five inputs move true monthly away from net effective:
- Required fees. Tech packages, valet trash, pest control, and package lockers. At 12 board buildings they ran $78-$228 a month (median $120.50, Oct 25, 2026). Austin’s fee ordinance No. 20260528-045 requires owners of 50+ units to itemize these and advertise rent plus required fees from Oct 1, 2026.
- Electric. Across 144 board buildings: Austin Energy 83, Pedernales 28, Bluebonnet 13, Georgetown Utility Systems 3, and Oncor with plan choice 16. We’ll help you set it up before move-in.
- Water billed by the property. PUCT rules (16 TAC Ch. 24) require the allocation method and past bills to be disclosed, and cap the service charge on submetered water at 9%.
- Parking. Garage and reserved spaces often carry a monthly charge.
- Pets. Monthly pet rent is per pet at most buildings.
Our all-in budget guide walks through the same formula, or we can run it on your shortlist. The full fee layer is covered in required monthly fees at new apartments.
When does the board help most?
Three situations make the board worth the most to you:
- Your lease ends in a set month. We match buildings to your move date and flag pre-leasing dates we confirmed within 30 days on Opening Soon.
- You’re weighing deep specials. The Apartment Specials view lists only specials we confirmed within 7 days, each with year two beside it.
- You want an open building. Lease-Ups sorts open buildings by stage and fill estimate, with what’s finished confirmed in writing.
What we confirm before you tour
Listings show renderings and model units. We confirm the actual unit number, the floor and view, the special with its end date and minimum lease term, the written fee sheet, the special expiration date, and amenity open dates. Renderings are labeled as renderings on every card. If something changes between the card and the lease, we take it up with the community in writing and report back.
Every board number is checked against the published method on How We Do the Math, and community corrections are logged within one business day on the corrections log.
Austin // Decker Lease-up 
