Dallas's Drop in Apartment Rentals "Will Definitely Get Worse Before It Gets Better"

Back in April, GlobeSt.com crunched the Dallas apartment-rental numbers and found that vacancies were on the rise; said one analyst at the time, "Dallas is likely to see the most decrease in occupancy, due to the large number of units under construction." Three months later, GlobeSt.com follows up and finds...

By Robert Wilonsky

July 13, 2009

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Back in April, GlobeSt.com crunched the Dallas apartment-rental numbers and found that vacancies were on the rise; said one analyst at the time, "Dallas is likely to see the most decrease in occupancy, due to the large number of units under construction." Three months later, GlobeSt.com follows up and finds that the numbers are indeed down: According to Carrollton-based MPF Research, multifamily occupancy rates "stalled at 90%, a drop of 3% from the year before, and rents falling 1.7%." And rents are slightly down, though not with the deep discounts one might expect as landlords look to fill empty units.

Part of the drop stems from the new constructions finally opening their doors in recent months -- but, as evidenced by the myriad moonscapes pockmarking the city landscape, many planned developments are stuck in neutral for who-knows-how long, which should ease numbers somewhere down the road. There are parts of town in which apartment rentals are doing OK -- chiefly, downtown and Uptown, areas not heavily saturated in the past with multifamily, says one analyst -- but, according to MPF vice president of research Greg Willett, "It will definitely get worse before it gets better. The economy is losing steam pretty quickly in Dallas and we have more product on the way. With the poor economy, I'm afraid there is no way out."

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