RENT'S DUE

Rent in this Dallas-Fort Worth city increased nearly 15 percent from 2022

Zumper ranked Irving the No. 34 most expensive rental market in the United States.

Photo courtesy of Simpson Property Group

Apartment rent keeps going up in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, and none more so than in Irving, where renters pay nearly 15 percent more than they did last year, making it increasingly difficult to afford living in the city. That’s according to a new national rent report from online rental marketplace Zumper.

Irving topped the list of rent increases among DFW cities.

Despite rent increases showing a small slowdown month-over-month, overall prices are still on the high side from the previous year. For example, the average rent for a two-bedroom apartment in Irving is $1,930 now, in March of 2023, which is a half percent increase from the previous month, but a staggering 14.9 percent increase from 2022. The average rent for a one-bedroom is $1,520, which is a mere 2 percent increase month-over-month, but also a whopping 14.3 percent increase from last year.

The report looked at rental data from more than 1 million active listings in the top 100 cities in the United States to determine the rankings. Zumper ranked Irving the No. 34 most expensive rental market across the nation in February of 2023, up two places from the last report.

The report attributes these recent rental increase trends to the nation's rising inflation rate and unpredictable economy. Though unemployment is low (less than 3.4 percent), potential homebuyers are being sidelined with increasing interest rates. This is causing more competition among renters all over the country.

“Many markets continue to either normalize or correct following the steep increases in rent seen in 2021 [and 2022] in the zero interest rate [and] QE environment we went through,” said Zumper CEO Anthemos Georgiades in the report. “With interest rates expected to rise further in 2023, we anticipate continued deceleration in rent rises as new household formation freezes or is at least postponed.”

Just two places down the list from Irving is Dallas, coming in as the No. 36 most expensive rental market, which is a three-place increase from a previous report. Average rent for a one-bedroom apartment stayed relatively flat over the last month, at $1,500, yet is still 4.2 percent higher than it was last year. Two-bedroom apartments saw a smaller year-over-year increase at 4.6 percent, with the average rent price at $2,030.

Plano comes in at No. 40, Fort Worth at No. 55, and Arlington at No. 67.

Several cities in the DFW metro area also made the list, as well as Austin (No. 25), San Antonio (No. 66) and El Paso (No. 95). Most notably, Houston (No. 51) is experiencing a nearly 11 percent year-over-year rent increase for both one- and two-bedroom apartments.

The nine total Texas cities that made the list include:

No. 25 – Austin
No. 34 – Irving
No. 36 – Dallas
No. 40 – Plano
No. 51 – Houston
No. 55 – Fort Worth
No. 66 – San Antonio
No. 67 – Arlington
No. 95 – El Paso

The full data from Zumper’s National Rent Report can be found at zumper.com.

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homebuyer power play

Dallas declared one of the top 10 buyer's markets in the U.S. right now

joe daniel price/Getty Images

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The tide has turned for the Dallas housing market, and buyers now have more power than ever to negotiate on their forever home, a new real estate report has confirmed.

Dallas has now become one of the top 10 strongest buyer's markets in the nation with sellers outnumbering buyers by 107 percent, Redfin's newest market trends report found.

Nationally, sellers outnumbered buyers by 58 percent in August 2026, which Redfin says is the largest gap on record. Out of the 49 most populous metros in the U.S., only five are considered seller's markets, and eight are considered "balanced" markets where the number of buyers and sellers are nearly equal.

That leaves the remaining 36 most populated U.S. metros as buyer's markets, which includes the biggest cities in the Lone Star State. In fact, four Texas cities rank among the 10 strongest buyer's markets in the country right now: Houston (No. 3), San Antonio (No. 6), Austin (No. 7), and Dallas (No. 8).

There were 30,854 sellers on the market in Dallas last month, more than double the amount of buyers (14,865). The market's tilt in favor of house hunters allows more legroom to be picky with the increased supply of available housing, while falling demand indicates less competition with other buyers.

"In most markets, buyers should negotiate on price and ask for concessions like repairs or help with closing costs," said Redfin senior economist Asad Khan. "Buyers shouldn’t assume every seller will budge, especially on a desirable home that’s already priced well, but they don’t need to rush into a deal that doesn’t feel right."

For sellers that want to stand out in a saturated market, Redfin suggests they should price their homes competitively and be prepared to negotiate.

A separate Redfin report found mid-September is the best time for Dallasites to buy a home, but other experts say hesitant shoppers have until early October to take the plunge.

Regardless of the timeline, the report warns that the recent surge of available housing is only beneficial for homebuyers that can afford it.

"High housing costs and widespread economic uncertainty have caused many would-be buyers to back off in recent years, creating the imbalance of buyers and sellers we see today," the report said.

The median price of a home in Dallas came out to $408,561 in August, though 79 percent of all home sales in the city sold for below their original asking price.

The top 10 strongest buyer's markets in the U.S. are:

No. 1 – Nashville, Tennessee
No. 2 – Miami, Florida
No. 3 – Houston, Texas
No. 4 – Orlando, Florida
No. 5 – Las Vegas, Nevada
No. 6 – San Antonio, Texas
No. 7 – Austin, Texas
No. 8 – Dallas, Texas
No. 9 – Atlanta, Georgia
No. 10 – Phoenix, Arizona

"Nashville, Texas, and Florida are home to robust buyer’s markets partly because they have some of the most active homebuilding pipelines in the country, with newly built homes continuing to hit the market even as demand cools," the report said.

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