Dallas Renter Activity Declines in 2020
Renters have more reasons to leave the nation’s urban cores and head to the suburbs; specifically, Dallas residents relocated to smaller nearby cities such as Richardson, Arlington, Irving and Plano.
DALLAS—Overall renter activity was hampered as the pandemic shortened the start of the rental season, a delay of two months. Each US city had different renter movement, which in turn, affected rental costs, according to RentCafe’s year-end report.
Here are some highlights for Dallas:
Renter activity declined this year in Dallas, with 7% fewer rental applications. The renters who applied to move within the city compared to last year declined by 13%. At the same time, 4% fewer renters chose to move to Dallas, while 5% decided it’s time to leave the city.
Who moved out? A majority or 60% were Millennials, one of the most active renter cohorts at this time. As for their destination, 61% headed for a different urban area. This rising trend, as in 2019, meant 58% of leavers chose another city.
This move-out group was followed by Gen X-ers (17%) and Gen Z-ers (15%).
“5% more renters left Dallas this year compared to 2019. Meanwhile, activity coming from renters moving into or within the city dropped by 13% and 4%, respectively,” study author Irina Lupa, RentCafe creative writer and researcher, tells GlobeSt.com. “As the average rent is stagnating and an increasing number of employers offer remote work nationwide, renters have more reasons to leave the nation’s urban cores and head to the suburbs. Dallas, in particular, saw its residents relocate to smaller nearby cities such as Richardson, Arlington, Irving and Plano.”
However, this trajectory of renters moving out of Dallas isn’t worrisome, as these groups make up the smallest share of tenants in the city or 15%. By comparison, renters moving into and within the city each account for more than 40% of renting activity.
The RentCafe study is based on 5.8 million rental applications from RentGrow. The data on average rent comes directly from competitively rented (market-rate) large-scale multifamily properties (50-plus units in size) via telephone survey.