Is Now a Good Time to Rent in D-FW? Let’s Check the Latest Data

Despite predictions of widespread evictions because of economic distress caused by the pandemic, the apartment industry is weathering the storm, especially in the Dallas-Fort Worth market.

So far, residents are making their rent payments on time. More than 87 percent of D-FW apartment households made a full or partial rent payment on time, according to the National Multifamily Housing Council’s Rent Payment Tracker. Nationally, 79.4 percent of households made their October payment by the 6th.

The payment tracker analyzes a wide variety of market-rate rental properties across the United States, which can vary by size, type, and average rental price.

In D-FW, the housing inventory is slow to meet demand, but apartment construction is doing well here.

D-FW led the country for apartment demand in the third quarter with the quarterly increase in the occupied units at 8,957 units, according to RealPage. D-FW continues to be the nation’s construction by a wide margin with ongoing development totaling 40,349 units.

Apartment rents in the D-FW area are holding steady as well. Monthly rent increases were less than 2 percent for one-bedroom apartments listed in Zumper’s Dallas Metro Report.

Zumper analyzed active listings in September across 21 D-FW cities to reflect the most and least expensive cities and cities with the fastest-growing rents. The Texas one-bedroom median rent was $953 last month. The nation’s average monthly rent for a one-bedroom is $1,419, according to RealPage’s third-quarter data.

According to Zumper, Grapevine was the most expensive with one bedroom apartments priced at $1,280. Frisco and Dallas were tied for second at $1,250. Mesquite and Arlington were tied for most affordable with one-bedrooms priced at $890.

In terms of year-over-year changes, Fort Worth and Irving were down 8 percent and Bedford was up over 8 percent.

A spokeswoman for Zumper attributes Bedford’s increase to the low number of rental units in the city and Fort Worth and Irving’s rise to renters migrating to suburbs in search of more space and affordability during the coronavirus pandemic.

D-FW two-bedroom units increased 3 percent to $1,740.