Large apartment buildings are becoming a bigger part of the rental market in Dallas, according to a recent study. The report, which looked at data from 2014 to 2024, found that the share of multifamily units in Dallas rose from 29.2 percent to 46.3 percent of all rentals during that period. This is the largest increase among the top 50 metropolitan areas in the United States, as reported by Redfin.
Dallas now ranks eighth nationwide for multifamily units as a proportion of total rental inventory. Cities like New York have higher shares, with multifamily units making up 69 percent of rentals there. Dallas sits between Chicago and Washington, D.C., where large apartments account for 45 percent and 47.3 percent of rental inventory, respectively.
Steve Triolet, senior vice president of research and market forecasting at Partners Real Estate, commented on current conditions: “We have a little bit of a multifamily glut.” He added that vacancy rates in apartments with at least five units were over 11 percent across the Dallas/Fort Worth area last year. Traditionally, vacancy rates between 8 and 10 percent indicate a balanced relationship between landlords and tenants.
Triolet also said, “Some of the submarkets I would consider tenant-favorable. You can get a lot of concessions, free rent, stuff like that.” He continued: “If you’re in the urban core — if you’re in downtown, specifically — it’s not uncommon to get six to eight weeks of free rent for signing a lease of a year or more. When you do the math on that, that shows a little bit of distress.”
After several years of rapid construction leading to oversupply, developers in Dallas have recently slowed down building new multifamily projects. Last year, Dallas had one of the lowest occupancy rates for large cities at 92.6 percent.
Single-family home construction has also decreased recently in North Texas. In the fourth quarter of 2025, about 8,300 homes began construction—a drop of nearly 18 percent compared to the same period in 2024.
Meanwhile, development is rising for built-to-rent homes—single-family houses intended specifically for renters rather than buyers. More than 5,800 such units were under construction in Dallas as of September last year—an increase from earlier months—making Dallas one of the country’s most active markets for this type of housing development.
“That’s really new, and there’s not really a proven exit strategy,” Triolet said regarding built-to-rent projects.
