Dallas ranks among the 10 hottest rental markets in the nation

Apartment supply is barely keeping up with demand in Dallas, which Zillow just named one of the 10 hottest rental markets in the nation. A slew of new buildings going up, rising rents, and competition for those units all fuel the frenzied market, making Dallas the No. 9 most competitive of them all.

To compile the list, the Zillow economics team looked at the share of rental apartments built in 2011 or after, the percent of new apartment units from the last year that rented within three months of being built, and the rent appreciation of apartments over the past year. 

Apartments built after 2011 make up 3.3 percent of Dallas' available pool of rentals, and although that doesn't sound like much, buildings built in the last year are responsible for 65 percent of all units rented in the last three months.

Not only are people clamoring to claim a newer apartment as their home sweet home, they're also willing to pay more for it. Rents have been steadily rising in Dallas, and a monthly budget of, say, $1,500 might not get you what it used to. Over just this past year, apartment rent appreciation has gone up 3.4 percent.

Austin's also experiencing a hot rental market, coming in just above Dallas at No. 8. The numbers between the two cities are pretty similar, and neither catches up with Columbus, Ohio.

The college town places first on Zillow's list, with new apartments accounting for 5 percent of the market; 77 percent of those units have been rented in the last three months. Just in the past year, rents have gone up 6 percent.