Hot housing

3 Dallas neighbors own the country's best real estate markets, report says

Everyone wants to live in North Texas.

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Judging by a new ranking, the North Texas housing market is hotter than a sweltering summer day. Frisco, McKinney, and Allen claimed the top three spots on a new list from personal finance website WalletHub, and another five Dallas-Fort Worth cities landed in the top 25.

To determine the best real estate markets in the U.S., WalletHub compared 300 cities of various sizes across 22 key indicators of attractiveness and economic strength for housing markets. The data ranged from appreciation of home prices to local job growth.

The Frisco-McKinney-Allen trio were first through third, respectively, in the WalletHub ranking, thanks in great part to their high rankings for affordability and economic strength.

Among other DFW cities, Richardson was No. 7, followed by Denton (No. 10), Fort Worth (No. 15), Irving (No. 21), Grand Prairie (No. 39), Garland (No. 41), Plano (No. 44), Dallas (No. 84), Arlington (No. 86), and Mesquite (No. 112).

WalletHub analyst Jill Gonzalez points out that in Frisco, almost 15 percent of the homes were built between 2010 and 2016, contributing to the suburb’s ranking as the top real estate market in the U.S.

Bill Head, a spokesman for the MetroTex Association of Realtors, says the housing markets in Frisco, McKinney, Allen, and Richardson — the top four DFW communities on the WalletHub list — all have benefited from growth around State Highway 121 and the Bush Turnpike.

“The affordability of homes in those four areas is key to why they are attractive to homebuyers,” Head says. “That could be said in countless other communities around DFW, but the combination of both business and residential development in those areas cannot be understated.”

Head notes that the North Texas real estate market seems to be stabilizing, coming off the recent highs experienced during the housing boom. For instance, the number of single-family home sales in the region inched up just 2 percent during the first seven months of 2018 compared with the same period in 2017.

“Sales and pricing should start to steady as more homes come on to the market, and buyers will have more selection,” Head says.

On the WalletHub list, Fort Worth was No. 3 among large U.S. cities, McKinney was No. 1 among midsize cities, and Frisco, Allen, and Richardson all were in the top five among small cities.

In other major markets in Texas, Austin was No. 36, followed by San Antonio (No. 173), and Houston (No. 215).

Austin ranked eighth among large U.S. cities, with Dallas at No. 17, San Antonio at No. 36, and Houston at No. 47.

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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