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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Politics News

Dallas narrows down field for new city manager to 4 candidates

Photo by R K on Unsplash

This is an Dallasite's sign to launch that small business they've been dreaming of.

After six months without a city manager, the city of Dallas has narrowed down the field of replacements to four semifinalists including one serving as current interim city manager, plus candidates from Fort Worth, Michigan, and Georgia.

Dallas has been without a city manager since May, when previous city manager T.C. Broadnax left to take a job with the city of Austin. Since that time, Broadnax's former chief of staff Kimberly Bizor Tolbert has served as interim city manager.

The city retained Baker Tilly, a consulting firm, to recruit and compile candidates. (Baker Tilly famously erred in the brochure it created for the position by featuring a photo of the Houston skyline instead of Dallas; they've since replaced it with Dallas.)

A spokesperson for Baker Tilly did not respond to inquiries but according to D Magazine, an email listing the candidates has been sent to the Dallas City Council.

The semifinalists include:

Kimberly Bizor Tolbert, Dallas’ current interim city manager
William Johnson, an assistant city manager in Fort Worth
Mark Washington, the city manager of Grand Rapids, Michigan
Zachary Williams, a county chief operating officer in Georgia

All have more than 25 years' of public administration experience and have worked in similar capacities in their respective cities.

Before working in Fort Worth, Johnson was Baltimore’s transportation director and Atlanta’s deputy chief operating officer and public works commissioner.

Washington worked in Fort Worth and Austin before becoming Grand Rapids’ city manager.

Williams has mostly worked in Georgia at the county level, including serving as county manager in Fulton County and chief operating officer in DeKalb County.

Tolbert began working for the city in 1998, first as the city manager’s assistant and later in the aviation department. Broadnax hired her as his chief of staff in 2017.

Unlike the Mayor and the Dallas City Council, the city manager position in Dallas is not elected but is instead appointed by the city council, and is tasked with executing policies, overseeing the annual budget, and managing staff at city hall.

The council’s Ad Hoc Committee will choose finalists, introduce them to the public, and make an offer in early 2025.

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