Camden Property Trust first quarter 2022 profits soar as apartment demand, rents rise

Strong earnings came as rent prices across its 170 properties rose by an average 14.4 percent year-over-year in the first quarter.
Camden isn’t the only apartment owner experiencing escalating rent growth and solid demand. Nationally a tight housing market has helped to push rents up by double-digits. The median rent for a two-bedroom apartment jumped by 16.3 percent in April, according to a new report from ApartmentList.com. In Houston median rents for a two-bedroom apartment jumped about 11 percent year-over-year in April to a $1,211, according to Apartmentlist. 

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Rent appreciation in two of Camden’s two major markets, Houston and Washington D.C., is lagging behind its other Sun Belt darlings. 

“In Houston we’re getting 8-9 percent increases (in rents) but it’s noting like the Tampa or Phoenix or some of these other white-hot markets,” said Ric Campo, CEO of Camden Property Trust, in an earnings call with investors. “Houston’s issue is that the energy [industry] has not added back all the jobs they lost during the pandemic … so there’s gas in the tank for Camden moving forward on renewals and new leases,” Campo said, meaning there could be more room for rents to grow as the economy rebounds.

Robust rental demand is spilling over into single-family homes, which continue to attract attention from investors with build-to-rent communities planned throughout the pandemic. Camden announced plans to jump on the single-family rental trend this past quarter with two communities in the Houston area, including one in The Woodlands and one in Richmond.

In March Camden bought a nearly 16-acre parcel of land in Richmond for a 188-unit single family rental community, called Camden Long Meadow Farms. While the sale price wasn’t disclosed, Camden has so far invested about $8.4 million into the project since purchasing the property in early March, according to its earnings. Work is expected to start on the $68 million project in The Woodlands this year, a Camden spokesperson previously said. 

The Richmond project is part of $1.2 billion worth of prospective development work Camden is proposing nationally, although not all of that work would occur this year. Currently also of its existing construction projects are in North Carolina, Arizona, Florida and Georgia. Beyond its proposed Houston single-family projects, Camden is eyeing expansions of Camden Highland Village on West Alabama and Camden Downtown apartment projects in the Houston area, although exact timelines for those projects weren’t  immediately available. 

Also in earlier in April, Camden doled out more than $1 billion to buy out its joint venture partner, retirement fund Teachers Retirement System of Texas, in 22 properties spread across the Sun Belt. Camden acquired a 68.7% interest in the properties in a portfolio that includes Camden Grand Harbor, Camden Downs at Cinco Ranch and Camden Cypress Creek I & II in the Houston area.

The purchase bolsters Camden’s exposure to the suburbs, which are continuing to outperform urban apartments, said Campo said.