Supply and Demand of Apartment Complexes in San Marcos, TX

Summary
This project analyzed the supply of apartment complexes and the demand for students aged 18-24 attending Texas State in the City of San Marcos city limit. In the past decade San Marcos has experienced an increase in Rent-By-Bed apartment leases compared to Traditional leases. Bobcat Community Consultants (BCC) gathered data about unit and bedroom amounts using a market survey. This data was then analyzed with Arcmap Pro by comparing population census block group data with the number of bedrooms to create a density map. This analysis was visualized by creating maps for each year (excluding 2018) from 2010-2019 and a projection map of apartments to be built in 2021. Further visualization for 2019 was created through an Agol dashboard.
Purpose
The purpose of our project is to identify the supply and demand of student oriented apartments with the population age group of 18-24 in San Marcos, Texas. With the help of GIS analysis tools, we can assist the City of San Marcos planning department determine the need for future construction of student oriented apartments.
Methods
In order to create the supply and demand analysis we used a series of joins to combine like fields in order to create one main shapefile. From the main shapefile we were able to extract multiple layers for apartments built in each year using select by attributes. Once each year was categorized we used a spatial join to combine the census block group of a year to the corresponding apartment layer. For example, if we used a 2010 census block group layer then we joined the layer that had apartments built through the year 2010. Once the spatial join was created we created a new field called density. We used the calculate field to divide the number of bedrooms to the population. This field essentially created the supply and demand analysis.

Conclusion
Using GIS analysis tools, Bobcat Community Consultants was able to compile research to help the City of San Marcos determine the need of the construction of future apartment complexes within the city limits. BBC has determined that there are in fact more beds available than students to fill them. Our maps will show the supply and demand analysis yearly from 2010-2019 as well as the apartment growth in San Marcos in five year increments from 2000-2019. BBC is also proud to provide a visual of the projected apartment growth through 2021.