Rise of rentals

Dallas unlocks one of the highest rates of Airbnb growth in the U.S.

This urban warehouse loft in Deep Ellum is listed on Airbnb.

The number of Airbnb listings in Dallas is ballooning, a new study shows.

The study, released October 22 by real estate platform IPX1031, ranks Dallas fifth among major cities for growth in Airbnb listings since 2017 (95.2 percent ). One notch higher, at No. 4, is Fort Worth (101.5 percent). Eighth-place San Antonio (76.9 percent) joins Fort Worth and Dallas in the top 10 for Airbnb growth.

At 120.4 percent, Charlotte, North Carolina, tops the growth list.

An estimated 2,000 to 3,000 short-term rental properties operate in Dallas. Short-term rental properties in Dallas must pay hotel occupancy taxes but otherwise aren’t regulated.

An estimated 1,100 properties in nearby Fort Worth are marketed as short-term rentals. The City of Fort Worth allows short-term rentals everywhere but in residential areas. In September, the Fort Worth City Council directed city staff to study ways to regulate short-term rentals, including those posted on Airbnb.

Earlier this year, IPX1031 ranked Fort Worth as the 12th best place in the U.S. to invest in an Airbnb property.

At the other end of the spectrum in the new IPX1031 study, Austin ranks fifth among major cities for the least amount of growth in Airbnb listings since 2017 (7.19 percent). San Francisco leads this list, with a 16.6 percent decrease in Airbnb listings.

Restrictions on short-term rentals may be causing some cities to see limited or negative Airbnb growth, IPX1031 notes. Both Austin and San Antonio regulate short-term rental properties. Austin’s regulations regarding short-term rentals are considered among the strictest in Texas. San Antonio started regulating short-term rentals in November 2018.

“The rapid expansion of short-term rental platforms has spurred many cities to adopt new regulations to mitigate the loss of long-term rental units and to address more localized concerns such as the increase in transient residents and local spillover effects,” Ingrid Gould Ellen, faculty director of New York University’s Furman Center, told Urban Land magazine. “The responses run the gamut from outright bans, to caps on the number of units or nights, to an array of taxes and fees.”

For its study, IPX1031 analyzed Airbnb listing data from more than 350 U.S. cities. The data came from AirDNA, an analytics database for short-term rentals.

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Unhappy holidays

Porch pirates pilfer nearly $2B worth of Texas packages, study shows

Porch Pirate Person in Glasses Steals Packages

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’Tis the season for porch pirates. If past trends are an indicator, the Grinch will swipe close to $2 billion worth of packages delivered to Texas households this year, with many of those thefts happening ahead of the holiday season.

An analysis of FBI and survey data by ecommerce marketing company Omnisend shows porch pirates stole more than $1.8 billion worth of packages from Texans’ porches last year. Porch pirates hit nearly one-third of the state’s households in 2024, according to the analysis.

Omnisend’s analysis reveals these statistics about porch piracy in Texas:

30.1 million residential package thefts in 2024.
An average household loss of $169 per year.
An annual average of 2.9 package thefts per household.

“Most stolen items are cheap on their own, but add them up, and retailers and consumers are facing an enormous bill,” says Omnisend.

Another data analysis, this one from The Action Network sports betting platform, unwraps different figures regarding porch piracy in Texas.

The platform’s 2025 Porch Pirate Index ranks Texas as the state with the highest volume of residential thefts, based on 2023-24 FBI data.

Researchers at The Action Network uncovered 26,293 reports of personal property thefts at Texas residences during that period. The network’s survey data indicates 5 percent of Texas residents had a package stolen in the three months before the pre-holiday survey.

The Porch Pirate Index calculates a 25.8 percent risk of a Texas household being victimized by porch pirates, putting it in the No. 5 spot among states with the highest risk of porch piracy.

The Action Network included online-search volume for terms like “package stolen” and “porch pirates.” Sustained spikes in these searches suggest that “people are actively looking for guidance after something has happened. Search trends serve as an early warning system, revealing emerging-risk areas well before annual crime statistics are released,” the network says.

Tips to avoid being a victim
So, how do you prevent porch pirates from snatching packages that end up on your porch? Omnisend, The Action Network and Amazon offer these eight tips:

Closely monitor deliveries and quickly retrieve packages.
Schedule deliveries for times when you’ll be home.
Use delivery lockers or in-store pickup when possible.
Ask delivery services to hide packages in out-of-sight spots outside your home.
Install a visible doorbell camera or security camera.
Coordinate deliveries with neighbors or building managers if you’ll be away from your home when packages are supposed to arrive.
Request that delivery services hold your packages if you can’t be home when they’re scheduled to come.
Illuminate the path to your doorstep and keep porch lights on.

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