DFW Leads Nation With Over 30K Apartment Sales This Year

It’s a good time for the multifamily market, if you’re in Dallas-Fort Worth.

More than 30,000 apartment units sold during the first half of 2023. DFW ranked first in the nation, and multifamily accounted for more than half of the region’s $8 billion in investment property purchases this year, the Dallas Morning News reported, citing data from RealPage and MSCI.

At the end of the first quarter, DFW also led the nation in apartments under construction, with over 74,000 units in the pipeline.

The 30,028 units that changed hands through the midyear point made up about 10 percent of all apartment purchases in the country. Houston, which ranked second on the list, had half the number of apartment sales, according to RealPage chief economist Jay Parsons.

DFW’s multifamily sector is performing relatively well compared to other markets, but apartment sales are down significantly across the U.S. Nearly 300,000 units sold nationwide through June, marking the lowest number at the midyear point since 2011. High interest rates, a tight lending climate and fears of an economic downturn have contributed to the slow down.

Notable apartment transactions this year include the 378-unit Mezzo Dallas that Harbor Group International purchased in May, and the 26-story Cirque apartment building that sold last month in Victory Park.

Some of the fastest-growing apartment markets in the country are in the suburbs of DFW. Burelson, after the first quarter of 2023, had an annual new supply of 1,335 rental units and a 20 percent spike in inventory. Frisco has more than 4,000 apartments in the pipeline, equating to a nearly 15 percent increase in rental units.

—Quinn Donoghue