2026 Dallas-Fort Worth Multifamily Market Report

The supply story is increasingly submarket-specific. Northern growth corridors led Q1 absorption even while carrying the largest pipelines: Denton absorbed 522 units, Allen-McKinney 500, Frisco-Little Elm 391, and Anna-Melissa 387. Pricing still reflects the lease-up load. Effective rent fell 7.6 percent year over year in Prosper-Celina, 6.1 percent in Denton, 5.4 percent in Frisco-Little Elm, and 5.1 percent in Allen-McKinney. Uptown-Park Cities was the notable exception, with 1.3 percent rent growth and 7.2 percent vacancy.

Urban Dallas submarkets have fewer new starts and faster Class A stabilization. Achieved rents in Uptown and the Park Cities corridor are holding closer to flat. Deep Ellum, Bishop Arts, Trinity Groves, and Oak Cliff have absorbed targeted infill product and remain supply-constrained over the long term, which keeps concessions narrower than in North Dallas Tollway corridor lease-ups. Knox-Henderson is being reshaped by the Trammell Crow, BDT and MSD Partners, and Highland Park Village Associates joint venture on the one-million-square-foot Knox Street project financed with a roughly $620 million Beal Bank construction loan. Lake Highlands has held up reasonably well as a value submarket pulling demand from softer Class A comps farther north. Las Colinas and North Irving are sitting at roughly $2,300 per month asking on Class A product and have a deep pipeline including Rosewood Property Company and Barings's 370-unit Gilman, the 403-unit Pearl Landing, and Legacy Partners's 293-unit 880 LYN.

Operator concentration is dense and renewal pricing on any given asset is set against neighbors making the same calls in the same week. Greystar manages roughly one million units nationally and runs a significant DFW footprint across third-party management, value-add, and development. Lincoln Property Company is locally rooted with deep brokerage and management presence. Trammell Crow Residential through High Street Residential broke ground in 2025 on a 394-unit project at the SMU Mockingbird DART station and is anchored on the Knox Street build. JPI announced five Texas projects totaling 1,750 units, including Jefferson Railhead in Frisco, Jefferson Grandscape in The Colony, Jefferson Cedar Ridge in Dallas, Jefferson Northlake, and Jefferson Peninsula in Grand Prairie, as part of a larger nine-building, 3,300-unit, billion-dollar joint venture with Madera Residential and Waymaker. StreetLights Residential broke ground on a 635-unit luxury phase at The Mix in Frisco in 2025 and is also vertical on a 20-story Dallas tower. Embrey, Wood Partners, Hunt Companies, Lantower, Cypress Real Estate Advisors, and Pillar Income Asset Management round out a comp set where operating decisions ripple quickly across nearby assets.

Sales volume is recovering even though fundamentals are still soft. Trailing four-quarter DFW multifamily sales volume reached roughly $10.4 billion through Q3 2025, up 42% year-over-year, and the prior twelve-month figure ran near $11.5 billion. Average price per unit settled near $167,974 to $184,000 with cap rates in the mid-5% range. Private buyers dominated and institutional capital remained selective. Construction starts in 2025 totaled about 24,243 units across 88 projects, well below 2022 and 2023 starts, and the units underway figure ended 2025 near 42,700 with deliveries expected to fall roughly 62% in 2026. Underlying demand remains intact: DFW added about 34,900 jobs in the twelve months ending September 2025, unemployment ran at 3.6%, and infrastructure projects including the $3.5 billion Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center redevelopment and DFW Airport Terminal F expansion continue to support absorption.