Texas is seeing a surge in new homes for rent, and according to a new study, these “build to rent” communities are becoming even more popular as home prices and interest rates remain high.
A report by ‘Point2Homes’ revealed that Texas is leading the nation in new builds for purchase and has the highest number of rental single-family homes under construction. The report also lists Fort Worth and its surrounding suburbs atop the metro areas where the most rental homes are being built.
Realtors and economists said this is a big deal.
Dallas real estate agent Diana Gomez with eXp Reality said she has seen swaths of these new “build to rent” communities under construction all across DFW. They are especially visible in the suburbs of Dallas, McKinney, Princeton, Melissa, and up in Denton.
Right now, the biggest drive is affordability.
“Young people, Gen Z, millennials, they unfortunately, not all of them, can afford a house right now, especially with the high interest rates, but they want to live in a new house,” said Gomez. “So this opportunity of a single home you can get brand new, new models, really modern, open layouts. Sometimes, you can even have a small backyard, and they are nestled in this master community, so you have the best of everything, but you have a lower payment.”
The study showed because of that level of affordability, DFW’s rental home construction rate is the fifth highest in the nation. Developers are expected to build more than 8,400 new single-family homes for rent this year across the Metroplex.
Fort Worth is getting the biggest chunk of the development at just over 1,800 homes. McKinney is right behind Cowtown, where developers are expected to build the second-highest share of new home rentals with nearly 1,300.
“People are looking for that experience of living in a house, and these communities are offering that, and it’s growing. Fort Worth is like 8% of all these new developments that will be built in Texas — 8% of them are gonna be built in Fort Worth,” said Gomez. “It’s a big number.”
The Point2Homes study put Phoenix at the top with the country’s number one highest new rental home construction rate. But, Texas cities still dominated the top 10 metros.
DFW is not far behind Phoenix at number two. Houston is at number five, and Austin and San Antonio rank sixth and eighth.