High Dallas Rent (Houston, Austin, Plano: 2015, apartments, leasing)

[Nursegirl101]

Why is the rent in Dallas becoming so unaffordable? I am living in a one bedroom apartment, 730 sq ft. I was complaining about the high rent 1200 monthly. My lease is due to expire soon and if I renew, I have to pay an additional $150. I am looking at apartments and it seems that everywhere descent and safe is asking top dollars for rent. I am curious who is making the type of money to afford the rent. I understand supply and demand, but I am curious who makes the type of money to afford this high rent. At this rate it will be impossible to ever own a home, there will be nothing left to save if you are a single person with one income. I have even looked at older apartments and rent is ridiculous.

[loves2read]

How long have you lived in Dallas?
Did you relocate for a job?
Well, plenty of people are doing the same thing and need place to live
You should consider taking a roommate and splitting the rent

[RJ312]

1 bedroom apartments in Uptown are nearing or at the point of unaffordability. A lot of people in their 20s, who are not at their peak earning capacity yet, work around this problem and are able to live in the very desirable neighborhood of Uptown by taking on a roommate. A 2 bedroom apartment at $2,000 per month is more affordable than a 1 bedroom at $1,500 or $1,600.

Dallas is an affordable city when your baseline comparisons are big Northeastern cities (New York, Boston, Washington DC) or Pacific coast big cities (Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle). But compared to certain other areas, Dallas isn't that affordable. Also, there's a big difference in rent between Uptown/core central city areas desirable to singles/unmarrieds and neighborhoods north of 635 that appeal more towards families. An older building in Addison or Plano will be more affordable.

[LeavingMA]

Originally Posted by Nursegirl101

Why is the rent in Dallas becoming so unaffordable? I am living in a one bedroom apartment, 730 sq ft. I was complaining about the high rent 1200 monthly. My lease is due to expire soon and if I renew, I have to pay an additional $150. I am looking at apartments and it seems that everywhere descent and safe is asking top dollars for rent. I am curious who is making the type of money to afford the rent. I understand supply and demand, but I am curious who makes the type of money to afford this high rent. At this rate it will be impossible to ever own a home, there will be nothing left to save if you are a single person with one income. I have even looked at older apartments and rent is ridiculous.

Not to get too political, but welcome to low interest rates which raises prices on lower income and the middle class. In 2008 when the housing market crashed you had a larger transfer of wealth from lower middle class and middle class to the wealthy (hedge funds, large investment groups). As the prices of homes has increased in the last 2-5 years so has the rent. Inventory is low and everything is more expensive, not just rent.

In all fairness, $1,200 for a nice place in Dallas is cheap compared to most major cities. Go to Boston, NY, LA, SF, Chicago, etc.

[HP48G]

There are thousands of new apartments being built all around Dallas. You just need to be flexible enough to move to avoid paying the annual rent increases. Look for older complexes and you can probably find a one bedroom for 1K per month.

[BigDGeek]

Originally Posted by Nursegirl101

Why is the rent in Dallas becoming so unaffordable? I am living in a one bedroom apartment, 730 sq ft. I was complaining about the high rent 1200 monthly. My lease is due to expire soon and if I renew, I have to pay an additional $150. I am looking at apartments and it seems that everywhere descent and safe is asking top dollars for rent. I am curious who is making the type of money to afford the rent. I understand supply and demand, but I am curious who makes the type of money to afford this high rent. At this rate it will be impossible to ever own a home, there will be nothing left to save if you are a single person with one income. I have even looked at older apartments and rent is ridiculous.

Because it seems like every other Californian is packing up a U-Haul and moving here because it's "cheap" and because there's "lots of jobs."

As long as people are moving here faster than builders can throw up new apartments and SFHs, prices are going to go up.

[lepoisson]

Increasing rent prices are terrible for everyone. I doubt people get a salary increase of $150/mo every year.

For us middle class folks, the increasing rent prices make planning a budget very difficult.

I have lived in the same apartment in Kansas City for a few years and my rent only increased one time. A whopping $20 per month.

[EDS_]

I can't copy the link for some reason but here's some data from "Axiometrics" for 2015. IIRC they will release a 1/2-year update in late July.

That national average rent to household income ratio for 2015 was 24.6%

Per MSA................
NYC - 53.8%
LA - 43.7%
SF - 42.1%
Miami - 41.3%
Oakland 34.1%
Boston - 33.1%
San Diego - 31.7%
Chicago - 29.0%
Portland - 25.7%
Orlando - 24.5%
Nashville 23.9%
Denver - 23.6%
Austin - 20.8%
Houston 20.5%
Charlotte - 20.0%
Atlanta - 19.2%
Dallas 18.2%
Phoenix 17.7%
KC - 17.3%

So from an all in perspective it's tough to argue that Dallas rents are high, although they are certainly increasing.

[#1soonerfan]

I agree that rents here are getting stupid. I actually had to bail out of my place last year when they hiked up my rent $250/month. I have rented for over a decade now and until last year my rent had never gone up by more than $50/month. As far as the city of Dallas is concerned, I believe it now has the highest rents in the state, higher than Austin (which is saying something).

With that in mind, if it is any solace, I think we are probably at the peak of the rate increases. From March:

Sharp decline in D-FW apartment leasing raises red flag for developers | | Dallas Morning News

I can see in my own townhouse community in North Dallas, units that use to fill up in a matter of one or two weeks now sit empty for a month or more. Also, I heard something like 90% of the new apartments that have come online are now considered "high end." That is simply unsustainable.

[Taynxtlvl]

Originally Posted by #1soonerfan

I agree that rents here are getting stupid. I actually had to bail out of my place last year when they hiked up my rent $250/month. I have rented for over a decade now and until last year my rent had never gone up by more than $50/month. As far as the city of Dallas is concerned, I believe it now has the highest rents in the state, higher than Austin (which is saying something).

With that in mind, if it is any solace, I think we are probably at the peak of the rate increases. From March:

Sharp decline in D-FW apartment leasing raises red flag for developers | | Dallas Morning News

I can see in my own townhouse community in North Dallas, units that use to fill up in a matter of one or two weeks now sit empty for a month or more. Also, I heard something like 90% of the new apartments that have come online are now considered "high end." That is simply unsustainable.

Austin still has Dallas beat. The good thing is that at least in Dallas one could look to the border suburbs. N. Dallas, Addison, Farmer Branch etc. Deep Ellum is reasonable I hear. It just gets tough when you get close to the uptown and downtown areas.


And yes! if everything the build is multi-level with parking decks and shops underneath it's going to get tough they should build more variety into the new construction. Nothing but greed! and more greed!