REAL ESTATE

D-FW rent maintains steady rise
Apartment residents here see average price balloon to $1,240
By STEVE BROWN
Real Estate Editor
stevebrown@dallasnews.com

Dallas-area apartment residents are digging a little deeper to make their rent payments every month.

Be glad you’re not renting in Austin.

Dallas-area rents are up $49 a month on average in the last year to $1,240 — a new high, according to the latest data from Yardi Systems.

That’s still less than the nationwide average in October.

“October apartment rents in the U.S. are slowly picking up pace, despite the brief respite that was the previous month,” Daniel Coste of Yardi’s RentCafe said in the report. “All the signs point towards a strong and resilient industry as the national average rent reaches $1,476.

“The annual increase was $46 at the national level — this is compared to October 2018.”

Austin residents have seen the biggest rent hikes in Texas this year, with average monthly payments up $74 to $1,442.

Houston rents have risen just $16 year-over-year to $1,111.

In the Fort Worth area, renters are paying $39 more than they were in October 2018 with an average of $1,130.

“San Antonio boasts the cheapest rents among the largest Texas metros, averaging at $1,044,” Coste said. “They did not change since September, but they are still $31 higher compared to October last year.”

The highest apartment rents in the country are all in major coastal markets, including Manhattan ($4,245), Los Angeles ($2,530), Washington, D.C., ($2,233) and Seattle ($2,138), according to Yardi.

The lowest big-city rents are in Indianapolis ($887), Columbus ($940) and San Antonio.

Dallas-Fort Worth is the fastest-growing apartment market in the country, with overall rents up about 3% from a year ago.

Twitter: @SteveBrownDMN