Madness to The Methodology: Dallas Rental Prices Reflect How The Numbers Are Crunched

Typically, research reports and studies on real estate come to the same general conclusion. It depends on methodology and how the data collector frames the information.

That was the case last week when Zumper, Apartment List, and Rent.com released rental reports reflecting year-over-year cost increases.

• In its Sept. 27 National Rent Report, Zumper data showed the year-over-year price of one- and two-bedroom apartments in Dallas had increased 5.8 percent and 8.5 percent, respectively. The month-over-month price had risen by 2.8 percent and 2 percent.
• On the same day, Apartment List released its October 2022 Dallas Rent Report. It showed the year-over-year increase in Dallas to be 12.3 percent for one- and two-bedroom apartments. But, skewing its report was the bullet point that rents in Dallas had decreased 0.1 percent month-over-month in September.
• On Oct. 4, Rent.com showed the average rent for a one-bedroom apartment in Dallas to be 11 percent more than a year ago. The two-bedroom unit price was up 25 percent year over year. However, Rent.com, like Apartment List, detected a month-over-month decline from September to October for all apartment sizes.

Are they all wrong? Or are they all correct?

It depends on the methodology, of course. The slightest deviation can render different results.

Zumper claims its data is sourced through a combination of proprietary listings posted by landlords and brokers through Zumper’s Landlord Platform and third-party listings received from MLS providers.

Apartment List says it uses median rent statistics from the Census Bureau and then extrapolates them forward to the current month “using a growth rate calculated from our listing data.”

Rent.com uses data from its multifamily rental property inventory for 1BR and 2B units. A single measure of price for all unit types per period was calculated using a weighted average based on the number of available units. We’ll take Rent.com’s word on that.

All these different calculations can be confusing. It makes some of us realize we should have paid closer attention to higher math studies.