land of many high rises

This Dallas-area zip code ranks 5th hottest in U.S. for new apartments in last 5 years

More people means more apartments to fit them all.

Nearly all of Dallas-Fort Worth has experienced a flurry of apartment construction to accommodate the equally expanding population in the last few years. In fact, eight Dallas-area zip codes were the hottest markets for new apartment construction between 2018 and 2022, according to a new rental market analysis by RentCafe.

Frisco is fifth in the nation
Most impressively, the zip code 75034 in Frisco was the No. 5 hottest market in the U.S., with a 70 percent growth rate for apartments. Nearly 5,900 new apartments built in the last five years, with a majority (96 percent) of units falling in the category of "luxury apartments."

According to the study, the median age of a person living in 75034 is about 36 years old, and the median income for the area is $65,816. This could be attributed to several major employers being located in the Dallas suburb, such as T-Mobile, Oracle, and Amazon.

"[Big corporations in Frisco], along with a highly rated school system, makes the city attractive for everyone from young professionals to families with children," the report said.

Frisco joins the likes of several major U.S. cities with similar explosive apartment rental growth, and outranks all other zip codes in Texas.

The top 10 zip codes that built the most new apartments from 2018-2022 are:

No. 1 – 20002 in Washington, D.C. (73.1 percent growth rate)
No. 2 – 20003 in Washington, D.C. (122.2 percent growth rate)
No. 3 – 11101 in Queens, New York (73.5 percent growth rate)
No. 4 – 37203 in Nashville, Tennessee (96.6 percent growth rate)
No. 5 – 75304 in Frisco, Texas (69.5 percent growth rate)
No. 6 – 85281 in Tempe, Arizona (38.8 percent growth rate)
No. 7 – 30309 in Atlanta, Georgia (65.1 percent growth rate)
No. 8 – 92101 in San Diego, California (46.4 percent growth rate)
No. 9 – 07302 in Jersey City, New Jersey (41.1 percent growth rate)
No. 10 – 98052 in Redmond, Washington (51.8 percent growth rate)

Four other Dallas-area suburbs landed in the top 50
For workers commuting into Dallas from outside the city limits, the zip codes 75052 in Grand Prairie and 75070 in McKinney were the No. 18 and No. 19 hottest U.S. markets for new apartment construction. Both suburbs had a little more than 4,000 new units built between 2018 and 2022, which translates to a 78 percent growth rate in Grand Prairie, and a 50 percent growth in McKinney.

The Colony's 75056 zip code ranked No. 30 in the nation, with a 44.5 percent growth rate. The study says 3,461 new apartments were built within the five year period.

Edging its way into the top 45 was 75082 in Richardson (No. 44). The city saw 2,875 new apartments built between 2018 and 2022, a 79.5 percent growth rate.

Dallas proper zip codes
Located in the heart of the city, 75204 encompasses parts of Baylor-Meadows, Old East Dallas, Belmont Park, Uptown, and State Thomas on both sides of Interstate 75. It ranked No. 21 in the report, with more than 3,800 new apartment units constructed between 2018 and 2022.

On the northwest side of town, 75234 in Farmers Branch ranked No. 30 with more than 3,300 new apartments built within the same time span. This zip code had the highest growth rate out of all Dallas-area zip codes at 88.7 percent.

On the opposite end, the Dallas zip code with the smallest growth rate was 75206, located between the area east of I-75 and Skillman Street. The zip code earned No. 41 in the study, and had 3,076 new apartments constructed from 2018-2022.

The full report can be found on rentcafe.com.

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Prep to Protest

Texas homeowners have one month to protest and lower their property taxes

Jessie Street home front Austin tour of remodeled homes

Photo courtesy of Austin NARI Tour of Remodeled Homes

Here's how Texans can correct their property taxes when they feel their home appraisal is too high.

Texans who are unhappy with their home appraisal this tax season have a chance to do something about it if they get the process going in the next month. The deadline for most people to protest their property valuation — thus lowering their property tax — in Dallas County is May 15.

If you haven't done it before, don't worry: There are steps to follow online and companies that do it for you at no cost unless you save money.

Why protest?
Texans pay the 7th highest property taxes in the country, according to personal finance website WalletHub. If your county has overappraised your home, you are paying more than you need to in property taxes.

Protests are especially important and easy for people who closed on their homes in the past year, because the value of the property upon sale is accepted as the true value of the property. This assumes that if the property were worth more, it would have sold for more. The more recently the home sold, the more likely it is that homeowners haven't meaningfully altered the property since the purchase.

Submitting a protest is free, and there is almost no risk in doing so. The Appraisal Review Board is prohibited from raising the property value in a hearing. Homeowners may decide it's not worth their time if their appraisal barely changes and they don't save a significant amount of money.

When to submit
Most homeowners whose home has increased in value according to the county should have received a Notice of Appraisal in the mail by now. It tells them how much the county believes their home is worth this year. To check online, homeowners can search for their property at dallascad.org.

The deadline to submit a protest is May 15 or 30 days after the notice is mailed — whichever comes later. However, the notice may have been lost or delivered to the wrong place, so it is important to check before May 15 just in case. Notices are also sent later for property owners whose primary residence is somewhere else.

There are lots of ways homeowners can try to prove their home value has not increased, or even that it has decreased due to damage on the property. Whether the evidence is photos of damage or "comps" around the neighborhood — comparing the home's value to others of a similar quality in the same area — homeowners submitting their claim themselves should be prepared to meet with an appraiser or even a review board.

Set it and forget it
Homeowners who don't want to deal with the paperwork, phone call, or hearing can hire service to protest on their behalf. For them, savings are essentially passive income; the service uses data from past years and the surrounding neighborhood to argue the client's case. It is easy to find a service that works on a contingency fee, so the cost is only a portion of the successful savings. Ownwell is a popular choice, but it's not the only one.

Finally, homeowners should also make sure they're not leaving money on the table by applying for a homestead exemption. This is available to people who own the homes they live in, as opposed to people who own homes and rent them out to others. It subtracts $140,000 from the total valuation of the home before applying the tax rate.

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