Study Shows DFW Suburbs Posted Unrestrained Rent Increases in 2016

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We talk about the impact of rising home prices all the time, but that’s only half the affordable housing story. Across the country, rents in suburban areas also show dramatic increases over the last year, with no signs of stopping.

A recent study from RentCafe shows that while urban Dallas continued to post fairly consistent rent increases in 2016 (5.9 percent), the farther you travel away from the city, the greater the hikes renters experienced. In Dallas proper, rental housing remains relatively affordable when compared to the rest of the Metroplex (and the country, as a whole). We have all that apartment construction to thank for that. More than 6,000 new apartment units became available in 2016, alone.

But in Fort Worth, where apartment inventory has stagnated, rents grew 6.3 percent over 12 months. And that’s nothing compared to areas like Weatherford and Midlothian where rent skyrocketed over 10 percent in 2016.

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Cheaper the Rent, Higher the Spike

In fact, the “cheaper” an area had been previously, the more disproportionately the rent spiked. For instance, Greenville, which has an average rent of $685 (compared to $1,100 in Dallas), saw rent growth to the tune of 9.1 percent over 12 months.

The only in which rent has gone down over the last year? Little Elm and Prosper. Prosper’s negative growth rate was close to 10 percent, making its rents the slowest growing in the area.

While the study maintains that DFW is a more well-balanced study in rent increase, its truly suburban areas reflect the worrying national trend.

[DFW] hasn’t escaped the national trend that the rent growth rates of suburban areas far outpace the metro cores. The outskirts of Dallas proper—especially the northern and northeastern areas are glowing red hot on the map below, which means rent growth rates of double digits. Zip code 75230 had the steepest y-o-y increase, at no less than 13%.

The centrally located zip codes, however, have had growth rates lower than 5%, without exception. Zip code 75202 even had negative rent growth, meaning that the average rent actually decreased by 1%”

 

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Heather Hunter is an accomplished freelance writer based in North Texas.

2 Comments

  1. Ross H on March 15, 2017 at 12:32 pm

    I guess I’ll count myself lucky that I’ve been personally seeing only 5% year after year.

  2. The_Overdog on March 16, 2017 at 12:43 pm

    The centrally located zip codes, however, have had growth rates lower than 5%, without exception. Zip code 75202 even had negative rent growth, meaning that the average rent actually decreased by 1%”
    ——-
    That’s a good thing (when compared to the average rents which are not cheap)! It means they are actually building enough inventory to support everyone who wants to move there.

    Also, I must be missing the definition of ‘outskirts’ if 75230 counts. It’s simply North Dallas, as it’s inside 635 between DNT & 75. Dallas goes way farther north than that.

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