Dallas Lags in Single-Family Homes for Lease, Survey Says (We Think)

Dallas-Fort Worth suburbs River Oaks, Saginaw, and Wylie were ranked among the best locations for single-family home renters in Texas but overall, they barely made the survey’s top 25 in the state. Here’s a maddening lesson in data science.

National real estate rental search and data site Point2 conducted the study, which surveyed 127 suburbs surrounding Dallas, Fort Worth, Austin, Houston, and San Antonio. It named Wylie as the best Dallas suburb for renters, closely followed by University Park, and Sachse.

Point2 scored the suburbs based on several factors, including:

• the share of single-family rental listings per 1,000 renter households,
• the share of single-family home renters among all renters in the city
• median household income
• plus, smaller weighted factors including cost of living, unemployment rate, average commute time, and other data.

However, Dallas and Fort Worth were separated for data purposes, categorizing suburbs as belonging to Dallas or Fort Worth. What about the mid-cities, you ask? Bedford was Fort Worth. Hurst was Fort Worth. Euless was Dallas.

Best Dallas Suburb

Wylie, the highest-ranking Dallas suburb on the list, landed at No. 20 statewide. With 53% of all renters finding a home and only 20 single-family rental listings per 1,000 renter households, renters in Wylie — and by extension, much of the Dallas metro area — face stiff competition, the survey found.

Let me roll that back because now I’m getting confused. The share of single-family renters (out of all renters) “indicates the prevalence of house rentals.” Share of single-family rental listings per 1,000 renter households “reveals the availability and competition for single-family home rentals.” Ok, I don’t totally follow that first stat but maybe you guys do so I’ll press play.

The survey categorized University Park as a suburb of Dallas. Geographically, both University Park and Highland Park reside entirely within Dallas city limits, but are their own incorporated cities/towns. Well, what do you call a city within a city if it’s not a suburb? It’s an enclave. Word semantics maybe, but if you know anything about the Park Cities, you know that dog won’t hunt if you go calling HP and UP the Dallas suburbs.

Best Fort Worth Suburb

Point2 named River Oaks the “Holy Grail for house renters, particularly if they’re outdoors aficionados” with plenty of playgrounds, baseball fields, and lots of picnic spots. Neat.

According to the data, River Oaks ranked No. 8 with a score 65.92 and 16.8 rentals per 1,000. The other top Fort Worth suburbs:

#9 Saginaw: Score 64.85 with 18.3 rentals per 1,000.

#12 Burleson: Score 64.16 with 21.7 rentals per 1,000.

#20 Wylie: Score 61.23 with 20.5 rentals per 1,000.

Top and Bottom Dallas-Fort Worth Suburbs

According to the survey, Fort Worth flourished while Dallas dipped. “River Oaks and Saginaw both make the top 10, with River Oaks shining due to a 145% increase in renter income. Meanwhile, Dallas’ highest-scoring suburb for house renters, Wylie, lags behind,” Alexandra Ciuntu writes.

My head is starting to hurt because I hadn’t been looking at increases in renter income. Back to the data, except I don’t see that data. Looking at the five-year growth of renter’s household incomes, I only see Fate and Murphy ranked at the top. We’ll move on.

#21 University Park: Score 61.10 with 34.8 rentals per 1,000.

#25 Sachse: Score 60.03 with 33.1 rentals per 1,000.

#28 Southlake: Score: 57.78 with 73.1 rentals per 1,000.

Wait, what? 73 homes for lease per 1,000 in Southlake? Impressive.

Nope hang on, going back to the data again. The suburb with the most single-family rental listings per 1,000 rental households is the Houston suburb of Katy with 646.1 rentals.

Ok, just press play. Bottom five.

#115 Balch Springs: Score 37.29 with 8.6 rentals per 1,000.

#116 Duncanville: Score 37.17 with 3.5 rentals per 1,000.

#117 Wilmer: Score 36.47 with 6.4 rentals per 1,000.

#118 Bedford: Score 36.03 with 3.1 rentals per 1,000.

#121 DeSoto: Score 34.58 with 7.6 rentals per 1,000.

The Outlook

The scarcity of rental homes in Dallas’ suburbs is in stark contrast to places like Bulverde near San Antonio or Iowa Colony near Houston, where they, too, have experienced significant population growth and infrastructure expansion, Ciuntu writes. These smaller suburbs have capitalized on their available land and growing populations, offering renters ample choice and more affordable prices, the survey says.

“In contrast, Dallas suburbs struggle to make the same positive impact on house renters. Although Dallas itself is a major economic hub, its sizzling-hot housing market has led to increasingly scarce options, fueling competition for surrounding areas,” the report states.

Dallas suburbs are constrained by a lack of available land for new development so suburbs are moving further and further out. In these areas, builders have focused more on mixed-use developments and luxury homes, leaving a gap in the market for middle-income renters seeking single-family homes.

But how far out do you consider a suburb? Waxahachie is listed as a suburb of Dallas, but ask someone on the street and they’ll heartily disagree.

You know what? [Volume raising.] All I wanted to do was point out some interesting tidbits in this suburb survey, but I’ve been falling deeper into the rabbit hole in a bad Alice trip sort of way and now I’m about to pitch my computer.

I don’t get data science. Just go read the full report from Point2 and leave me be.