Study Finds This D-FW Suburb Stands Out for Young Homebuyers

Mesquite has many advantages over some of its suburban neighbors. The city has the Mesquite Championship Rodeo, full of family-friendly fun. Three major interstates — I-635, I-30, and I-20 — run through Mesquite and will get you anywhere fast. Plus, it has numerous parks and dining choices.

It’s a wonderful place to visit. But did anyone consider Mesquite the top choice in the Dallas-Fort Worth area for young people to buy a home?

SmartAsset, a personal finance website, studied the top 50 U.S. cities where homeownership under age 35 has grown— bucking the trend of slowing under-35 homeownership.

Mesquite ranked fourth in the nation, the only D-FW city to make the top 10. Midland, which has a similar population to Mesquite and also sits along I-20, was ranked the top place where more young residents are buying homes.

Garland was ranked 17th, tying their score with Chula Vista, Cali. Fort Worth, Corpus Christi, Brownsville, and Amarillo all made the top 50.

Numbers Tell the Story

To determine where more young Americans are buying homes, SmartAsset churned the latest census data available for 200 of the nation’s largest cities. In particular, SmartAsset ran the numbers for homeownership rates for residents 18 to 34 based on the 2009 and 2019 1-year American Community Surveys.

Mesquite’s homeownership rate for young residents was 45.46 percent, a 9.99 percent change over 2009, which was 35.47 percent. Nationwide, young homeownership decreased by 3.71 overall since 2009. In 2019, 26.15 of residents younger than 35 owned their homes.

A National Association of Realtors 2020 “Generational Trends Report” found that 33 percent of all homebuyers were first-time homebuyers. At 25 percent, buyers age 30-39 (considered older Gen Y/Millennials) continue to be the largest generational group of all homebuyers with a median age of 34.

Affordability Favors Mesquite

Mesquite has the typical amenities of a suburb — historic downtown, convention center, and parks. But the city’s main attraction is value. According to Zillow, the typical home value in Mesquite is $204.027, about half that of Frisco ($439,212).

Compared to other D-FW homes, Mesquite remains a deal. The median home value for D-FW cities rose to around $271,000 as of February 2021, according to a separate Zillow study.

When it comes to buyers, especially young buyers, affordability is the main concern. Over the summer, SmartAsset released a pre-pandemic study that found millennials (ages 25 to 39) are fleeing the major metro areas in favor of Texas.

Eight of the top 25 cities receiving this migration were in state-income-tax-free Texas — Austin, San Antonio, Houston, Fort Worth, McKinney, Round Rock, Irving, and Frisco. The final four in that list are suburbs, each with higher median home values than Mesquite.

Added all up, you can see why Mesquite has the allure, whether or not you like to rodeo.