Recent data show that rents in Dallas-Fort Worth are up by 21% since the start of the pandemic.
Presently, the median rent for a one-bedroom apartment in the Dallas area stands at $1,201, while a two-bedroom unit costs $1,435. These figures indicate an increase of 21% in rent prices since March 2020, per the Dallas Business Journal.
The April 2023 National Rent Report from Apartment List released on March 27 showed that rents in the Dallas area increased 0.7% month over month in March. The year-over-year rent growth currently stands at 3.6%, compared to just 1% at this time the previous year.
This outpaces the national average, with year-over-year rent growth decelerating to 2.6% — the lowest level seen since April 2021 — and an increase of just 0.5% seen from February to March.
Nonetheless, Apartment List’s report suggests that the rental market in the United States is gradually returning to pre-pandemic conditions.
Price growth this month is comparable to that observed in March 2018 and March 2019, and apartment occupancy is returning to normal levels. As we head into summer, prices will likely continue to rise.
As The Dallas Express previously reported, February saw a mild rebound in rental demand nationwide. Yet a robust supply of rental units has kept prices in check.
DFW is ranked second in the nation for the total number of apartment units currently in the development pipeline and seventh when new residential units are considered per capita, per the Dallas Business Journal.
That said, Dallas is notoriously difficult to build in, and City officials have struggled to manage its heavily backlogged permitting process.
A typical single-family permit took an average of 27 days to be approved by the City’s Development Services Department as of February 2023. This is despite City Manager T.C. Broadnax making the building permit issue his top priority in his 100-day performance improvement plan last year, as The Dallas Express reported.
Issues such as these have the potential to drive high building rents and negative growth citywide.
For now, apartment-market fundamentals are strong in DFW, as Tim Harris, vice president of the Dallas-based Multifamily Development for Rosewood Property Co., told the Dallas Business Journal.
Harris cited corporate relocations, job growth, and population growth as continuing to drive the rental market.
In the Dallas area, as The Dallas Express reported in late March, Dallas’ rental competitive score rose 26% year over year. Yet the demand for apartments in the metroplex still falls below the national average, with scores of 58 and 60, respectively, based on RentCafe’s Rental Competitivity Index (scale of 0-126).