Dallas nails ranking as No. 1 U.S. market for new built-to-rent homes in 2022

With the increasing demand for housing and rising popularity of constructing homes for rent, Dallas has topped the charts as the metro area with the highest number of single-family rentals built for all of 2022.

Nearly 2,800 build-to-rent homes were completed in Dallas in 2022, which is a 10-year high, according to a new study by RentCafe.

The study also found the number of rental homes skyrocketed five times higher last year than in 2021, when only 500 rentals were completed and Dallas ranked No. 3 in the nation.

The study analyzed build-to-rent data from RentCafe's sister site, Yardi Matrix, for communities that had at least 50 single-family rental units.

Phoenix (which outpaced Dallas last year) ranked No. 2 in the latest findings with only 1,527 units completed last year. After Phoenix, single-family rentals in other American metro areas only went into the triple digits, with Atlanta, Georgia (No. 3) at 808, Greenville, South Carolina (No. 4) at 584, and Charlotte, North Carolina rounding out the top five with 475 units completed.

Dallas also had the second highest number of single-family rentals completed in the country within the last five years, totaling 3,955 units. The city ranked higher than every other Texas metro area. Phoenix took the No. 1 spot with over 6,000 build-to-rent homes completed in the same time period.

Other Texas metros that appeared in the top 10 with the highest number of build-to-rent units between 2018 to 2022 include Houston (No. 4), Austin (No. 7), and San Antonio (No. 8).

The study's findings support a growing demand for flexibility among renters who may not want the high cost and maintenance associated with home ownership, RentCafe says.

“More and more people are deciding they want the best of both worlds: the flexible lifestyle of the renter, with no maintenance commitments and costs, and the comfort and privacy offered by living in a house,” the study’s author wrote. “In this case, build-to-rent homes check all of the boxes, while high home prices and rising interest rates make them even more appealing.”

The number of single-family rentals is expected to continue rising dramatically in 2023. Currently, 4,350 units are under construction in Dallas, second only to Phoenix (again) which has nearly 5,500 units underway.

Overall, there are 44,700 build-to-rent homes being built this year throughout the nation; three times more than the number of completed homes in all of 2022, the study says.