Where to Buy

Dallas ranks among 10 best markets for first-time homebuyers

Dallas home, 8335 Banquo Dr., home for sale

This is the time to buy in Dallas.

Photo courtesy of Ebby Halliday Realtors

Looks like Dallasites in the market for their first home have chosen the right time to buy. Not only are home values rising (while list prices remain relatively flat), but the city has again been named one of the best for first-timers.

A new report from SmartAsset ranks Dallas 10th among the 10 best cities for first-time homebuyers in 2018. The finance company looked at seven factors to determine where first-time homebuyers should put down roots: number of HUD-approved lenders, loan funding ratio, average price per square foot, affordability ratio, stability score, price variance, and number of negative quarters from 2012-2017.

With 187 HUD-approved mortgage lenders — the third highest on the list — Dallas buyers "should have no trouble shopping for a mortgage," says SmartAsset. And, Dallas is touted as a safe housing market in which to invest, as it has seen zero negative year-over-year quarters in the time period studied.

Dallas also boasts a price per square foot of only $90.58 and a loan approval rate of 67 percent. (Earlier this year, Zillow also named Dallas the No. 10 market for first-timers using a different set of metrics, including price cuts and inventory.)

Texas is home to three of SmartAsset's 10 best markets for first-time buyers, with Houston at No. 4 and San Antonio at No. 7. H-Town boasts the highest number of HUD-approved lenders, while the Alamo City is celebrated for its affordability.

Five other Texas cities appear on the finance site's full list of 25: Fort Worth (11), Arlington (14), Corpus Christi (16), El Paso (20), and Austin (24).

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No Cap

Dallas was a top-10 destination for Gen Zers on the move for 2023

Photo by Lance Asper on Unsplash

Who wouldn't want to live in a Gen Z paradise like Dallas?

As Gen Z enters adulthood, many are flocking to the nation's biggest cultural hubs like New York City, Los Angeles — and now Dallas, which had the ninth-highest inflow of Gen Zers in 2023.

Dallas' new reputation as a Gen Z hotspot was unveiled in a recent report by American home improvement brand This Old House, which analyzed migration trends across multiple generations using 2023 U.S. Census Bureau data.

Dallas saw an influx of 13,770 Gen Z residents last year to become the generation's No. 9 most popular city. That's 4,223 more Gen Zers than the net migration rate from 2022, the report found.

Real estate marketplace Zillow seems to agree on a statewide scale, declaring Texas as the No. 1 destination for Gen Zers on the move in 2024.

However, as Gen Z Dallasites may have learned, it's going to take a big bite out of their paychecks to live in such a highly sought after city. A March RentCafe housing cost analysis predicted Gen Z adults living in Dallas are likely to spend over $149,000 on rent by the time they are 30 years old.

While Dallas saw big gains in its Gen Z population last year, many other big cities saw a mass exodus. Plano, for example — which gained 1,295 Gen Z residents in 2022 — lost 4,028 Gen Zers in 2023, the report discovered.

The biggest Gen-Z exodus was in El Paso, with a drop of 5,607 — "a sharp turn from 2022 when the city saw an increase," the report said. "Other cities, including Plano, Texas; Memphis, Tennessee; McKinney, Texas; and Wichita, Kansas, are seeing similar declines."

"Gen X, baby boomers, and the Silent Generation are also moving away from major cities, particularly New York City and Washington, D.C.," the report said. "They’re heading to some of the same cities as Gen Z, including Houston and Jacksonville, Florida."

The top 10 cities that gained the most Gen Z residents in 2023 are:

No. 1 – New York City, New York
No. 2 – Los Angeles, California
No. 3 – Houston, Texas
No. 4 – Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
No. 5 – Chicago, Illinois
No. 6 – San Diego, California
No. 7 – Seattle, Washington
No. 8 – Charlotte, North Carolina
No. 9 – Dallas, Texas
No. 10 – Minneapolis, Minnesota

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