Nowhere else in the United States is retail space reportedly being developed as rapidly as in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.
Commercial real estate services provider Lee & Associates states that DFW leads the country with nearly 7.15 million square feet of retail space under construction. This means the metroplex has almost 3.4 million more square feet, or roughly 80% more, than the next highest market in the country, Houston.
The activity in North Texas represents 15% of all retail space under construction in the over 60 major markets tracked in the latest Lee & Associates report.
The immense retail construction activity has at least in part been buoyed by a surge in population growth. Between 2023 and 2024, DFW was ranked as the third-fastest-growing metro area in the country.
Earlier this year, The Dallas Express reported on a Weitzman Group report showing that the DFW retail market set a record occupancy rate for the second straight year in 2024 at 95.1%. According to Weitzman, 2023 and 2024 were the only two years the metroplex exceeded a 95% occupancy rate since reporting began in 1990.