Construction, worker on roof | Image by Volodymyr TVERDOKHLIB/Shutterstock
Despite the exorbitant costs of homes and insurance, making homeownership an unattainable dream for many, a recent report from StorageCafe reveals that construction is thriving in North Texas.
Candy’s Dirt reported that Dallas’ real estate growth from 1980 to 2023 was ranked 5th. Fort Worth placed 9th, and Plano came in at 33rd.
“While many cities across the country, particularly in housing-starved California, experienced declines in housing permits after the pandemic, Dallas and Fort Worth took a different path. On average, new permits for home construction in Dallas have soared by 42% in the 2020s and by 94% in Fort Worth compared to the previous decade,” read the report.
Here is the rest of the story as reported by Candy’sDirt:
Survey Says …
The StorageCafe report was compiled by a research team using data from the U.S. Census along with insights from sister research divisions, CommercialEdge and Yardi Matrix. The analysis covers real estate activity across six major sectors — single-family, multifamily, industrial, office, retail, and self-storage — focusing on 108 cities within their limits.
The introduction text in the report, however, implies that it was compiled by people who maybe are not intimately familiar with Dallas.
“The area’s flexible zoning regulations and rapid population growth have consistently attracted residential developers,” it states.
Hmm. Builders who wait months for permits and zoning changes and staff who have been deep-diving into code reform may beg to differ. As for population growth, more people moved out of Dallas than moved in last year, but a U.S. Census report shows that Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington grew faster in 2023 than any other metropolitan area.
The StorageCafe report acknowledges a multifamily boom that has dramatically reshaped the Dallas skyline over the past 50 years.
“[Dallas] has added an impressive 237,000 multifamily units, trailing only New York, Los Angeles, and Houston,” the report states. “While many cities across the country, particularly in housing-starved California, experienced declines in housing permits after the pandemic, Dallas and Fort Worth took a different path. On average, new permits for home construction in Dallas have soared by 42% in the 2020s and by 94% in Fort Worth compared to the previous decade.”
Additionally, as Dallas forges ahead with apartment construction, Fort Worth has experienced a sharp increase in single-family home permits over the past few decades. The city registered an impressive 161,000 building permits for single-family homes, outpacing all U.S. cities except Phoenix, Ariz., Houston, and Jacksonville, Fla. About 83,000 single-family homes were permitted in Dallas over the same time frame, according to the report.
Emilia Man, the lead analyst behind the study, said that nationally, Texas stands out for its high concentration of real estate growth across all its major cities over the last half-century.
“With a combination of favorable economic conditions, consistent population influx, and a business-friendly environment that continues to attract investment and innovation, Texas’ major cities are poised to continue dominating the real estate landscape, with Houston leading the way,” she said.
What Else is New?
In the race for industrial space, Dallas ranks fourth among the nation’s top development hubs, having added over 102 million square feet in the past 50 years, the StorageCafe report states.
“While industrial space delivery has remained steady, the city has set new records in the current decade, averaging more than 3.6 million square feet annually starting in 2020,” according to the report. “Meanwhile, blue-collar Fort Worth leads the nation in industrial space expansion over the past decade, delivering an impressive 9.7 million square feet annually. The city ranks second overall, behind Houston, with more than 138 million square feet of industrial space added since the 1980s.”
More from the report:
The region’s booming office development over the past five decades has been driven by sustained economic growth and a surge in corporate relocations. Since 1980, Dallas has added an impressive 88 million square feet of office space, with Fort Worth contributing an additional 30 million square feet to the region’s total. While many cities experienced sharp declines in office construction, Dallas defied the trend, posting a remarkable 96% average increase in the last decade compared to the previous one.
With almost 39 million square feet of retail space delivered over 44 years, Dallas ranks 10th in retail development, while Fort Worth holds the 15th spot, also adding 32 million square feet.
The sector faced a sharp decline during the “digital decade,” the report notes. The rise of e-commerce and shifting consumer behaviors caused retail deliveries to plummet, with Dallas averaging just 240,000 square feet annually in the 2020s and Fort Worth seeing a 65% drop to 264,000 square feet compared to the previous decade.
