Real Estate Rumblings

3 hottest Dallas neighborhoods revealed by real estate authority

Phillips Creek Ranch neighborhood in Frisco

Phillips Creek Ranch, in Frisco, is one of the area's hottest neighborhoods this year.

Photo courtesy of Redfin

For first-time (or, really, anytime) homebuyers, the biggest question is: where should I live? A new list may help you narrow down your options.

On January 28, real estate brokerage Redfin released its annual ranking of the hottest neighborhoods to watch in 2020. Along with listing the 10 hottest 'hoods in the nation (we'll get to those later), Redfin also crunched numbers on the three buzziest communities in Dallas and 60 other major metro areas.

To find these hot spots, Redfin examined neighborhoods with the greatest year-over-year growth in listing pageviews on Redfin.com and talked to local realtors. "Some of the neighborhoods included may not meet the conventional definition of 'hot,'" the company hedges in a release, "but are still trending among homebuyers."

In the Dallas metro area, the three hottest neighborhoods vary greatly by location and price point:

Rylie
Located 11 miles southeast of downtown Dallas sits the affordable neighborhood of Rylie, with a median sale price of just $178,000, well below the Dallas median of $299,000. Homes in Rylie spend a median 29 days on the market, the shortest time among the three featured Dallas neighborhoods (and good news for sellers).

Phillips Creek Ranch
In Phillips Creek Ranch, a master-planned community located in booming Frisco, homes go for well above the Dallas median price. Redfin says the median sales price in the upscale neighborhood is $650,000 — more than double the Dallas median. These pricey properties stay on the market for a median 98 days, giving buyers a bit of an advantage when it comes to making an offer.

Lake Ridge
Situated near Joe Pool Lake, in the cities of Cedar Park and Grand Prairie, Lake Ridge offers a middle ground between Rylie and Phillips Creek Ranch. The median home price in this community is $420,950, and homes spend about 70 days on the market.

As for the 10 hottest neighborhoods in the U.S., no Texas cities made the list. Instead, it concentrated largely on the Southeastern U.S., with the Washington, D.C. metro area making two appearances, likely thanks to Amazon's HQ2 announcement last year. The 10 Hottest Neighborhoods to Watch in 2020 are:

No. 1 — Willowsford, Ashburn, Virginia (Washington, D.C. metro)
No. 2 — Bal Harbour, Fort Lauderdale, Florida
No. 3 — Wildwood, Charlotte, North Carolina
No. 4 — West Arvada, Colorado (Denver metro)
No. 5 — Waverly Hills, Arlington, Virginia (Washington, D.C. metro)
No. 6 — Adamsdale, North Attleboro, Massachusetts
No. 7 — Poplar Grove, Indianapolis
No. 8 — West Ridge, Woodinville, Washington (Seattle metro)
No. 9 — Raleigh, Memphis, Tennessee
No. 10 — Old Town Rocklin, California (Sacramento metro)

reports

Tax Hike

Texans saddled with 7th highest property taxes in nation for 2026

Photo by Ronnie George on Unsplash

The Texas property tax burden keeps going up.

Property taxes can be a particularly sore subject for homeowners, and a new study has revealed Texans are saddled with the seventh-highest property taxes in the nation.

WalletHub's annual report, "Property Taxes by State," released February 17, found Texas homeowners will pay a median $4,232 in property taxes in 2026. That's based on the state's median home value of $283,800.

Last year, Texans were on the hook for a $4,111 property tax bill based on a median home value of $260,400. And Texas residents are expected to pay $360 more on their property taxes this year than in 2024, when the figure was $3,872.

To determine which states have the biggest and lowest property tax burdens on residents, WalletHub's experts divided each state's median real estate tax payment by its respective median home price. The report then used the resulting rates to extrapolate the annual real estate tax that would be paid on a house valued at $332,700, which was the median value for a U.S. home as of 2024 (the year where the latest data was available). All 50 states and the District of Columbia were analyzed.

Texas tied with Nebraska as No. 44 in the national ranking of states with the highest property tax burdens for residents right now. Both states have an effective tax rate of 1.49 percent, the data said.

Still, the property tax burden in Texas isn't as punishing as New Jersey (No. 51), whose residents are shelling out almost $9,600 on their property taxes this year based on a median home value of $454,400. On the opposite end, Hawaii is the state with the lowest property taxes, with residents spending about $2,239 based on a median home value of $839,100.

The annual property taxes Texans would pay on a $332,700 home (the 2024 U.S. median home value) added up to $4,961, the report said. For added context, the U.S. Census Bureau found the average American household pays $3,119 annually on property taxes.

Of course, property taxes vary by region, and residents living in Dallas County are familiar with enduring tax hikes. Dallas renters are also affected by rising property taxes despite not owning their homes, WalletHub said.

"While property taxes may seem irrelevant to the 35 percent of households that rent, that assumption misses the mark," the report said. "Whether paid directly or indirectly, nearly everyone bears the cost of property taxes, as they influence rental prices and help fund state and local governments."

According to Walltethub, the top 10 states with the lowest property taxes for 2026 are:

No. 1 – Hawaii
No. 2 – Alabama
No. 3 – Nevada
No. 4 – Arizona, Colorado, and South Carolina (tied)
No. 7 – Idaho
No. 8 – Delaware and Tennessee (tied)
No. 10 – Utah

real estate property taxes texas wallethub reports