New apartments proliferate in DFW

Apartments under construction in Dallas-Fort Worth soared to new heights in the first quarter of 2023, while average rent prices dropped slightly.

Over 74,000 new apartments were in the works by the end of March, which is up from the previous quarter’s 65,642 new units, the Dallas Morning News reported. Simultaneously, average rent declined by 0.4 percent to $1,536 per month.

Similar to Austin, new multifamily developments are alleviating supply-shortage issues, giving more options to prospective renters and forcing apartment complexes to lower prices in order to stay competitive. 

“After an uncharacteristically slow 2022, leasing momentum returned to the D-FW apartment market in the first quarter,” RealPage chief economist Jay Parsons told the outlet. “We’re seeing strong leasing traffic again as renters suddenly have far more options than they did a year ago — both in terms of newly built and also existing apartments.”

Parsons added that last quarter’s construction numbers were the largest he’d seen since he started tracking the data in 1992. 

Net apartment leasing in the region also increased by 857 units — the best showing since a year prior. Parsons said DFW leads the nation in apartment development, with 34,345 units slated to complete in 2023. Yet, the vast quantity of new buildings resulted in a 6.5 percent vacancy rate for apartments, which was the highest since 2012, the outlet said. 

The bulk of new apartments are being built in Allen and McKinney with 11,238 units, followed by 9,125 in Frisco and 4,039 in Dallas’ Uptown and downtown areas. 

Steady job growth and population gains have helped bolster a strong overall rental market in North Texas, as the region saw an influx of 211,600 new jobs year-over-year since last February.

DFW appears to be thriving across all sectors of real estate. In January, it was reported that the region led the nation in commercial sales volume for the third year in a row. And as of November, it led the county in industrial projects under construction with nearly 67 million square feet of warehouse and distribution space in the pipeline.

—Quinn Donoghue