The Dallas-Fort Worth area will continue to be a hot market for real estate investment and development in 2025, according to a new report.
Price Waterhouse Coopers and the Urban Land Institute’s report, “Emerging Trends in Real Estate 2025,” ranked the Dallas-Fort Worth region as the nation’s No. 1 metropolitan statistical area (MSA) for real estate, both commercial and residential, in 2025. Other top markets included Miami (No. 2), Houston (No. 3), Tampa-St. Petersburg (No. 4), and Nashville (No. 5).
The yearly study is based on interviews and surveys of “a wide range of industry experts, including investors, fund managers, developers, property companies, lenders, brokers, advisers, and consultants,” per the report.
DFW is the fourth-largest MSA in the U.S., just behind Jacksonville, Raleigh, and Austin. Its population increased by 6.1% between 2020 and July 2023. The area also “enjoys a diverse economic base “of banking, commerce, insurance, telecommunications, technology, energy, health care, and logistics. The report added that the city is home to 23 Fortune 500 companies, the fourth-largest concentration in the nation.
“Given its size and continued demographic growth, it is not surprising that real estate investors have targeted DFW. The city secured the top spot in Emerging Trends for 2025 and has consistently ranked in the top 10 for the last six years,” the report stated.
The report describes DFW as “relatively affordable.” Although median home prices in DFW have increased 38% since Q1 2020, they are still in line with the national median sales price of just below $400,000. “This is about four to five times the median household income in the metroplex — not quite affordable in absolute terms, but less unaffordable than most other major housing markets.” The national price-to-income ratio is currently above 5X, according to John Burns Research and Consulting.
The study predicted that the area’s combination of affordability, growth, and economic diversity will continue to draw more residents and businesses to DFW in the coming years.
