Real Estate Rumblings

Dallas homeownership rate climbs to record high during pandemic, report says

Dallas-Fort Worth's homeownership rates are soaring.

Photo by Ariel Skelley/Getty

Buoyed by historically low mortgage rates and robust home sales activity, Dallas is basking in record-high homeownership rates.

In the third quarter of this year, the homeownership rate in Dallas-Fort Worth climbed to 69 percent, according to a report released November 17 by the Texas A&M University Real Estate Center.

That compares with 64.9 percent in the second quarter of this year and 61.5 percent in the third quarter of 2019. Federal homeownership data for DFW dates back to 2005.

Statewide, Texas’ homeownership rate clocks in at an all-time high of 70 percent, exceeding the nation’s 67.4 percent for the first time since 2012, according to the report.

"Strong sales activity during the third quarter pushed the Texas homeownership rate to the unprecedented high," says TAMU Real Estate Center’s chief economist Jim Gaines in the report. "Nationally, homeownership fell across all races and every age group, except those 65 and older."

And while DFW has seen growth, the numbers are even higher in Austin. In the Austin metro area, the homeownership rate skyrocketed to 74.7 percent in the third quarter of this year, up almost 9 percentage points from 65.8 percent in the second quarter.

The Real Estate Center notes that, among the state's four major metro areas, Austin’s homeownership rate is the highest for the first time in 12 years.

Elsewhere in Texas, the homeownership rate in the San Antonio rate barely budged. The report shows the rate went from 66 percent in the second quarter of this year to 66.3 percent in the third quarter. That compares with 61.1 percent in the third quarter of last year and the record high of 76 percent in the fourth quarter of 2004. San Antonio’s data goes back to 1996.

Houston, which has been battered by the pandemic recession and a downtown in the oil industry, saw the regional homeownership rate drop from the second quarter of this year (67.9 percent, a record high) to the third quarter (65.5 percent), the report says. In the third quarter of last year, the rate sat at 61.9 percent. Houston’s data dates back to 2005.

Gaines warns that homeownership rates around Texas could slide next year as pandemic-era protections against home foreclosures expire.

"Homeownership could suffer in 2021," he says, "as COVID-19 foreclosure-protection policies expire. Texas has a higher proportion of Federal Housing Administration and Veterans Administration loans."

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Real Estate News

Dallas real estate developer pleads guilty to bribing 2 city officials

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Dallas developer Sherman Roberts

Dallas real estate developer Sherman Roberts pleaded guilty on November 12 to conspiracy to commit bribery, according to a release from the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas Leigha Simonton.

Roberts, 70, who previously helmed City Wide Community Development Corporation, was indicted in December 2020. According to court documents, Sherman bribed two city council members — Mayor Pro Tem Dwaine Caraway and City Council member Carolyn Davis — to support loans and low-income housing tax credits for his apartment projects.

In return for several thousand dollars in cash – plus the promise of future payments after her city council tenure ended – Davis lobbied for Roberts' real estate projects, including Serenity Place, Runyon Springs, and Patriot’s Crossing.

She promoted Serenity Place to the City Housing Committee, demanded other developers also seeking real estate funding withdraw their applications in order to increase Roberts' chances of success, recommended Serenity Place receive a 9 percent low income housing tax credit, and voted to approve a $1.9 million loan from the city of Dallas.

“Right now you and me are making money,” Roberts texted Davis shortly after the vote.

Later, she repeatedly reached out to ask for more money — "just a few dollars" — and he agreed.

Davis and Roberts then met with Caraway to address a problem with the Patriot's Crossing project. In return for several hundred dollars cash and a $2,000 monthly stipend, Caraway agreed to stop the city from issuing a request for proposal (RFP) for the Patriots Crossing project and to deliver the project for Roberts.

“How much is the project worth?” Mayor Pro Tem Caraway asked. “Once you’re successful with this project, don’t forget about me.”

“I won’t forget about you,” Mr. Roberts responded. “That’s where the money is… the money has never been an issue.”

Roberts now faces up to five years in federal prison. He is slated to be sentenced on March 12, 2025.

Caraway pleaded guilty in 2019 to conspiracy to commit honest services fraud and tax evasion and was sentenced to more than four years in federal prison.

Davis pleaded guilty in 2019 to conspiracy to commit bribery concerning an agent of a local government receiving federal benefits, but passed away in a car crash before she could be sentenced.

Roberts was one of three real estate developers charged in connection with the bribery scandal. Devin Hall, the developer behind the Grand Park Place apartment project, pleaded guilty in August 2020. Ruel Hamilton, the AmeriSouth Realty Group executive who backed the Royal Crest housing project, is awaiting retrial on conspiracy and bribery charges.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Dallas Field Office conducted the investigation with the assistance of IRS – Criminal Investigation’s Dallas Field Office. Assistant U.S. Attorney Marcus Busch is prosecuting the case with the help of Assistant U.S. Attorney Donna Max.