Dallas: City of Renters

The explosive growth of the Dallas-Fort Worth metropolitan area in recent years has mostly gone toward rental housing, and now the area has one of the lowest homeownership rates in the country.

February 23, 2015, 2pm PST | James Brasuell | @CasualBrasuell

Steve Brown reports on what could be a surprising takeaway from the Census Bureau's recent Housing Vacancy Survey (HVS): "Dallas-Fort Worth is on its way to becoming a city of renters."

In fact, the Dallas-Fort Worth area ranks eighth among major U.S. cities with the lowest percentage of homeowners, reports Brown. That puts the North Texas city just behind San Francisco on the list. In San Francisco, 55.8 percent of residents own homes. In Dallas, 56.3 percent of residents own homes.

Even a slightly younger version of Dallas-Fort Worth stands in contrast to the current homeownership rate. According to Brown, "D-FW’s homeownership rate has fallen sharply since a peak of 65.2 percent in mid 2010."

In an earlier article, Brown noted that the Dallas-Fort Worth area outpaced the rest of the country in the growth of its apartment market, with about 30,000 rental units under construction.

The fourth quarter HVS was full of surprises from recession trends—including a quick jump in household growth.

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D-FW has one of the country’s lowest homeownership rates

Published on Monday, February 23, 2015 in The Dallas Morning News