{"id":177455,"date":"2026-02-24T04:07:29","date_gmt":"2026-02-24T04:07:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/177455\/"},"modified":"2026-02-24T04:07:29","modified_gmt":"2026-02-24T04:07:29","slug":"dallas-loses-housing-affordability-edge-while-austin-adapts-nbc-5-dallas-fort-worth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/177455\/","title":{"rendered":"Dallas loses housing affordability edge while Austin adapts \u2013 NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dallas has lost much of the housing affordability edge that once helped draw newcomers to North Texas, according to researchers at SMU\u2019s Bush Institute.<\/p>\n

If you lived in North Texas 10 or 20 years ago, you may remember people who moved into the area marveling at how much cheaper it was to buy a house or rent an apartment in Dallas-Fort Worth. But new research obtained by NBC 5 Investigates suggests that feeling is fading for people from many parts of the country.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would put it to you that essentially Dallas has no housing price edge relative to any place in the middle part of the country now. We still have a diminished edge relative to the northeast,\u201d said Cullum Clark, an economist with the Bush Institute-SMU Economic Growth Initiative<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Cullum<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\tEdward Ayala, NBC 5 InvestigatesEdward Ayala, NBC 5 Investigates<\/p>\n

Cullum Clark, with the Bush Institute, talks about how Dallas’s housing costs have lost their edge.<\/p>\n

Clark compared cities analyzing home prices and average incomes and found housing in Dallas is now equal to or more expensive than most major U.S. cities. He said significant housing savings are still common for people arriving from the California coast, but that even New Yorkers don\u2019t see as much of a price advantage in Dallas as they once did.<\/p>\n

So, what happened to Dallas as a bargain housing destination? Clark said it comes down to supply and demand, and that new construction couldn’t keep pace with the area’s population boom \u2014 at least not enough to prevent a housing shortage, which drove prices up.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Dallas,<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\tEdward Ayala, NBC 5 InvestigatesEdward Ayala, NBC 5 Investigates<\/p>\n

Dallas, Texas.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not because we\u2019ve been terrible at building, it\u2019s because the demand to live in North Texas has grown so fast that we could not possibly keep up on the supply side,\u201d Clark said.<\/p>\n

Clark also said Dallas is even farther behind in building apartments that low-income families can afford, especially families making less than $52,000 a year.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we look at that population of renters, we\u2019re short about 46,000 affordable rental units,\u201d said Ashley Flores, who tracks housing at Dallas\u2019 Child Poverty Action Lab<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Ashley<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\tEdward Ayala, NBC 5 InvestigatesEdward Ayala, NBC 5 Investigates<\/p>\n

Ashley Flores, left, with the Child Poverty Action Lab in Dallas, talks with NBC 5’s Senior Investigative Reporter Scott Friedman about housing costs.<\/p>\n

When NBC 5 Investigates asked housing analysts how Dallas could close the gap and bring down costs for families at all income levels, experts repeatedly pointed to another Texas city to the south.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Austin story is really important right now,\u201d Clark said.<\/p>\n

In Austin, city leaders and housing advocates said changes to building rules have helped accelerate construction and lower rent costs. So NBC 5 Investigates headed to the heart of Texas to see firsthand. We met with Austin Housing Commissioner Felicity Maxwell, who walked us through a construction project where two lots that once held single-family homes were being transformed into six smaller dwellings, with three on each lot. The shift was made possible after Austin reduced its minimum lot size to 1,800 square feet.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Six<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\tEdward Ayala, NBC 5 InvestigatesEdward Ayala, NBC 5 Investigates<\/p>\n

Six homes under construction on two lots in Austin, Texas.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis allows folks to come in and actually use this land, put three units and have each one of the units be less expensive, a little bit smaller,\u201d Maxwell said.<\/p>\n

Austin has also streamlined its building permit process and changed local zoning rules to allow apartment construction to begin more quickly in areas already zoned for commercial buildings \u2014 opening more land for new units.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo you change the rules. Make it easier to do some things, and then you get some great outcomes like this,\u201d Maxwell said.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"austin<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\tEdward Ayala, NBC 5 InvestigatesEdward Ayala, NBC 5 Investigates<\/p>\n

NBC 5’s Senior Investigative Reporter Scott Friedman, right, talks with Austin Housing Commissioner Felicity Maxwell, right, about the city’s efforts to quicken housing starts.<\/p>\n

Analysts who track housing costs nationwide told NBC 5 Investigates that the approach has helped Austin rapidly lower rents.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn inflation-adjusted terms, rents are down over 25% in Austin since the summer of 2022. That\u2019s a dramatic improvement in a short amount of time,\u201d said Alex Horowitz of the Pew Housing Policy Initiative<\/a>.<\/p>\n

One market analysis published by MRI Real Estate Software, which tracks rental rates, showed that since 2024, the average rent in Austin declined by about $160 a month — that’s nearly $2,000 a year that goes back into families\u2019 pockets. In DFW, rents have softened some at the same time, according to the analysis, but only by about $40 a month.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs we\u2019ve seen permitting times come down in Austin, and as we\u2019ve seen it get easier to build in Austin, affordability has started to improve there,\u201d Horowitz said.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Alex<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\tEdward Ayala, NBC 5 InvestigatesEdward Ayala, NBC 5 Investigates<\/p>\n

Alex Horowitz with the Pew Housing Policy Initiative talks about what Austin has done to lower the cost of rent.<\/p>\n

For resident Maddie Abdalla, the changes have helped make it possible to stay in Austin after finishing college.<\/p>\n

\u201cI definitely have seen rent go down overall,\u201d Abdalla said.<\/p>\n

Abdalla said she found an even bigger discount through a city rental assistance program that helps developers start projects faster, in exchange for offering some lower-priced units to renters at certain income levels.<\/p>\n

\u201cI get to have savings and start building up savings now. Again, nothing sizable, but it\u2019s just being able to have income to feel safe instead of check by check,\u201d Abdalla said.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"austin<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\tEdward Ayala, NBC 5 InvestigatesEdward Ayala, NBC 5 Investigates<\/p>\n

Austin resident Maddie Abdalla, right, talks with NBC 5’s Senior Investigative Reporter Scott Friedman, left, about how the city’s efforts to lower rents have improved her quality of life.<\/p>\n

Clark said the results showed what can happen when construction rises quickly.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat it shows is that if you have a sufficiently big house building and apartment building boom, it works. It does, in fact, drive down home prices, and it at least causes rents to stop going up,\u201d Clark said.<\/p>\n

The Texas Legislature recently passed a series of bills that will require other big cities, including Dallas, to take steps similar to Austin\u2019s, including reducing minimum lot sizes and opening more commercial land for apartments. Housing advocates hope those changes will help more families find a place they can afford.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we want Dallas to be a home for everyone, we really have to think about meeting the housing needs of everyone,\u201d Flores said.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Dallas,<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\tEdward Ayala, NBC 5 InvestigatesEdward Ayala, NBC 5 Investigates<\/p>\n

Dallas, Texas.<\/p>\n

This summer, the Dallas City Council is expected to have a draft of rewritten local zoning rules.<\/p>\n

Some neighborhood groups have raised concerns that smaller lots and more apartments would bring too much density, while some DFW-area leaders have complained that the new state laws would limit local control over housing. As the city moves forward with zoning changes, advocates and opponents alike expect more debate over how to balance density and affordability.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dallas has lost much of the housing affordability edge that once helped draw newcomers to North Texas, according…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":177456,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[132,71462,102,104,103,23538],"class_list":["post-177455","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-dallas","tag-austin","tag-bush-center","tag-dallas","tag-dallas-headlines","tag-dallas-news","tag-squeezed"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/177455","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=177455"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/177455\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/177456"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=177455"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=177455"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=177455"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}