Advocate photo of apartments in Oak Cliff.
During the past couple of years we have heard much about Californians and other high-cost-of-life states losing residents to Texas. The suggestion is now backed by robust data and the trend continues into 2023, according to the research team at RentCafe.
The analysts’ Texas Year-End Report ranks Dallas the third most competitive market in Texas (after El Paso and McAllen. See the report for a full methodology and what, exactly, that means.
The basics:
In 2022, 62.5% of Dallas’ apartment dwellers decided to stay put and renew their leases, while about a third of us went apartment hunting.
As a result, competition among renters was strong, with 14 apartment seekers applying for each available unit in Dallas.
State-wise, that is the second-highest number of prospective renters competing for an empty rental.
A typical vacant apartment in Dallas stayed on the market 31 days, while during peak rental season the average vacancy days decreased to 29. Occupancy rates in our bustling city hit just over 95% in 2022.
“The Lone Star State is known for its strong pace in apartment construction and Dallas is the market that shines in the development category, thanks to a 2.1% increase in rental supply,” Rent Cafe’s researchers report.
Midland-Odessa (3.5% increase in the share of new apartments) and Austin (2.9%) follow the same trend.
Looking at the evolution of the market throughout 2022, competition in Dallas dropped by 2.2% during peak rental season due to fewer renters applying for an apartment and slightly lower occupancy and lease renewal rates compared to the first part of the year.
Nationwide, Dallas and its suburbs rank among the nation’s top destinations for out-of-state renters coming from coastal areas, especially California, RentCafe reports.
Last summer we reported, also based on RentCafe reports, that Dallas was building 23,500 apartment units in 2022.
