high rise dominance

Dallas tops the U.S. charts for most new apartments built since 2020

Views from Dallas apartments don't get prettier than this.

Photo courtesy of Simpson Property Group

Shiny new apartment complexes are popping up everywhere around the country, but no other city can claim quite as many as Dallas.

Dallas-Fort Worth, in fact, has had more new apartments constructed since the beginning of the "pandemic building boom" in 2020 than any other U.S. metro area, according to a new study by apartment rental marketplace RentCafe.

Highest construction rate from 2020 to 2022
The construction analysis revealed 76,660 new apartment units opened in DFW between 2020 and 2022. Dallas' numbers far outshine one of the biggest renter metros in the country - New York City (No. 2) - by nearly 10,600 units.

"The booming job market in the Metroplex (supported by the industrial and tech sectors) fueled this construction spree," the report's author said.

Broken down by city, Dallas constructed 13,741 new apartment units between 2020 and 2022, while Fort Worth built the second highest number of new apartments: 9,672. McKinney built 2,586 new units within the same time frame, and Farmers Branch made up 3,140 new apartment units.

Dallas is followed less closely by its Texas neighbors Houston (No. 3) and Austin (No. 4), which only developed 53,741 and 45,051 new apartment units, respectively, within the same period. Miami rounds out the top five with 42,960 new units built between 2020 and 2022.

The remaining top 10 metros that completed the most new apartments between 2020 and 2022 are:

No. 6 – Washington, D.C. (42,723 units)
No. 7 – Los Angeles, California (39,842 units)
No. 8 – Atlanta, Georgia (39,467 units)
No. 9 – Seattle, Washington (36,952 units)
No. 10 – Twin Cities, Minnesota (31,662 units)

New apartments to meet rising demand in 2023
Dallas-Fort Worth may have topped the charts for new apartments built during the pandemic, but it has fallen slightly in completed units built thus far in 2023. The study found that developers are set to build 23,659 new rental units by the end of December, which is nearly 10,000 fewer than New York, which reclaimed the No. 1 spot in 2023.

Demand for more housing is still at an all-time high in the Metroplex, as the North Texas region gained more residents than any other American metro between 2021 and 2022, the report says. Census data estimates nearly 170,400 new residents arrived in Dallas-Fort Worth at that time, bringing the population total to 7.9 million. That's quite the population boom, which only continues to grow bigger and bigger.

"[Dallas' construction rate is] still not enough to meet the soaring demand for apartments throughout the metro, especially as America’s new boomtown is facing a severe shortage of housing units," the report says. "And, more and more people are expected to relocate to this thriving area in the coming years as businesses continue to expand."

The top 10 metros predicted to build the most new apartments in 2023 are:

No. 1 – New York City, New York (33,001 units)
No. 2 – Dallas, Texas (23,659 units)
No. 3 – Austin, Texas (23,434 units)
No. 4 – Miami, Florida (20,904 units)
No. 5 – Atlanta, Georgia (18,408 units)
No. 6 – Phoenix, Arizona (14,629 units)
No. 7 – Los Angeles, California (14,087 units)
No. 8 – Houston, Texas (13,637 units)
No. 9 – Washington, D.C. (13,189 units)
No. 10 – Denver, Colorado (12,581 units)

The full report can be found on rentcafe.com.

apartments housing reports DFW apartment units

Parking News

Dallas replaces dated policy on minimum parking spaces for businesses

Wikicommons

undefined

On Wednesday, May 14, the Dallas City Council passed legislation on a long-debated topic: parking. The city removed nearly all of the current parking minimums in favor of a more flexible framework for businesses and other developments on how much off-street parking is required.

The previous parking codes, which had been in existence for 60 years, required a specific number of parking spaces for housing and other businesses. The new Parking Reform amends Chapter 51 and 51A of the Dallas City Code regarding off-street parking and loading requirements by removing regulations that require certain amounts of parking per property.

The conversation about how much parking is required was initiated by the City Plan Commission in 2019, and has since been a project for the Dallas Planning & Development Department, working with City Hall, boards and commissions, and the public to come up with a policy that allows flexibility while enabling development.

They're following a trend that has been embraced in other cities such as Austin, Minneapolis, and Seattle. The vote was 14-1 with the only opposing vote from District 12 council member Cara Mendelsohn.

Director of Planning & Development Emily Liu called it "a momentous occasion," stating that "we are continuing to move the needle toward a zoning code in Dallas that is clearer and more predictable. Our staff has worked incredibly hard over the past five years to bring this reform to life."

The new Parking Reform policy applies to off-street parking provided on private property. It does not regulate or change the on-street parking provisions or regulate the street right-of-way. (This is covered by On-Street Parking & Curb Management Policy adopted by Dallas City Council in 2024.)

Business parking
Amendments include some notable updates to the city's parking requirements including the removal of these parking mandates:

in downtown and within 1/2-mile of light rail and streetcar stations
historically designated/landmarked properties
offices and most retail uses
industrial and heavy commercial land uses except when next to a single-family home located in single-family zoning
bars and restaurants under 2,500 square feet (for larger restaurants, the parking minimums will be reduced)
institutional and recreation uses

It maintains mandates for places of worship over 20,000 square feet, and senior high schools.

Residential parking
It reduces parking mandates for residential uses, taking a tiered approach for multifamily developments, changing the ratio from a “per bedroom” to a “per dwelling unit” requirement.

Larger developments (more than 200 units) will be required to provide at least 1 space per dwelling unit.
Medium developments will be required to provide at least one-half space per dwelling unit.
Smaller developments (under 20 dwelling units) will have no parking mandates.

Reserved guest parking for medium and large developments is required, as well as areas for short-term parking for drop-off and pick-up.

politics downtown