Study shows Dallas' rental market has balanced supply, demand

Rent growth over the past year show supply and demand are relatively aligned in Dallas’ rental market.

That’s according to a report by Apartment List, which showed year-over-year rent growth in the city was 1.8 percent. Some increase in rental prices is healthy and a matter of inflation, according to Chris Salviati, a housing economist with Apartment List.

Dallas’ rent growth over the past 12 months and flat growth in the past month show builders are keeping up with more demand for rental units in the city, maintaining a healthy and vibrant rental market.

“Dallas has a strong economy with solid job growth driving demand, but the area has also been building a good amount of new housing to keep up with that demand,” Salviati added. “For those reasons, I expect that rents in Dallas will continue to increase, but a relatively modest pace.”

Despite any anticipated increases, the average rent in Dallas for a two-bedroom apartment is $1,100, below the national average of $1,170. And rents are growing at a slower rate than the country’s average of 2 percent and Texas’ average of 2.1 percent year over year.

“Dallas has been and continues to be relatively affordable compared to most other major cities in the country,” Salviati said. “Despite experiencing increasing rents, growth over the past year has actually been slower than the national average.”

One factor that could change Dallas’ supply-and-demand ratio is an influx of new residents from a major corporate relocation, like Amazon’s HQ2. Landing the campus would bring roughly 50,000 jobs to the region.

But even that would raise rents only slightly, between 0.2 percent and 0.4 percent annually, Apartment List estimates.

“Dallas is top 3 for job growth in the entire country so that’s bringing tons of young professionals here,” said Drew Mancuso, co-owner of Dallas Apartment Locators. “You’ve got huge companies like Liberty Mutual, State Farm and Toyota that have moved their headquarters to North Texas. The demand is definitely there, which is obvious when you see most apartment buildings are occupied around 92 percent to 97 percent.”

By Korri Kezar, Digital editor, Dallas Business Journal. Original article posted on Apr 2, 2018 and a link to it can be found here.