Recent news stories keep highlighting the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex as being one of the top places for real estate. Some neighborhoods earned accolades as some of the most sought after in the country, while others are recognized as some of the best places to build a home. More press stories highlight why we’re great for real estate investors and a prime location for commercial real estate.

As long-time residents with a rich family history, we can’t deny we are partial to the Fort Worth area. For years, Fort Worth has been an excellent place to raise a family, start a business, and enjoy an affordable lifestyle. Inside the city limits are world-class cultural attractions, entertainment destinations, and miles of outdoor recreation. Add Dallas being nearby, and there’s even more to do within an hour’s drive. The attention given by the media is not a surprise to us.

What exactly are the media saying about Cowtown and what does it mean for Fort Worth real estate?

#1- Arlington’s 76018 ZIP code is a 2019 most desirable neighborhood

Realtor.com ran an article about the country’s most sought-after neighborhoods. For this ranking, it looked at the area’s days on market and home sales as signs of high buyer interest. According to their study, the national median days on market (DOM) was 56 days while the average price was $316,000. The list’s top cities often had average prices and DOMs under these values.

Southeast Arlington’s 76108 zip code ranked No. 8 on the list. Of special note was the city’s prime location between Fort Worth and Dallas. The median home price was $215,050. Homes here spent a short 20 median days on the market--just under three weeks.

#2- Fort Worth No. 2 best large city to buy a home

WalletHub shone a spotlight on Texas for its best places to buy a home in 2019, with five cities making the top 10. Fort Worth narrowly missed out on a top ten spot in the overall rankings, but still ranked at No. 13 in the website’s evaluation of 300 other U.S. cities. Cowtown did place second among all large cities listed in the survey.

For this report, WalletHub analyzed an array of 23 key indicators like population growth, building-permit activity, average days on market, affordability, and economic attractiveness. Each metric was weighted, with the real estate market categories totaling 80 points and the economic environment totaling 20 points. The cities were categorized from large to small. At over 300,000 residents, Fort Worth fell into the large city category. Its total real estate market rank was No. 16 and its economic environment No. 27.

Notably, Fort Worth gained high marks for the amount of new construction. Building-permit activity, a share of newer homes, and population growth helped push the city to its No. 2 large city ranking. Nearby Dallas stacked up as no. 24 with an overall ranking of 112.

#3- DFW leads the nation in new apartments

Fort Worth’s booming population is not showing signs of slowing soon. More people means an increased demand for housing, and the DFW metroplex is responding. A drive around the city proves that construction is booming.

RentCafe reported the DFW area is top dog in new multifamily construction. We will have 22,196 new apartments by the end of 2019. Compare that to No. 2 Seattle, at 13,682 units, and No. 3 New York City, with 13,418 units. DFW is far ahead of these major cities. According to the site, the new apartments, “will prove beneficial considering the 131,800 new residents that the metro added between 2017 and 2018 (based on U.S. Census estimates).”

Yardi Matrix, which tracked multifamily property growth for RentCafe’s analysis, showed Fort Worth had a slight edge on Dallas, with 3,875 new units compared to 3,859, respectively.

The RentCafe analysis looked at 134 U.S. Metropolitan Statistical Areas and exclusively at buildings with 50 units or more.

#4- Fort Worth ranks among the 10 best big cities for first-time homebuyers

In another accolade from personal finance website WalletHub, Fort Worth came in No. 10 on its list of large cities best for first-time homebuyers. Seeing as how 39 percent of all single-family home purchases in 2018 were from first-time homebuyers, this represents a large segment of active buyers. Nearby Dallas ranked 44th.

The analysis compared 300 cities sorted as large (over 300,000 residents), mid-size, and small (under 150,000 residents). Factors for study were broken down into three dimensions considered important to first-time homebuyers: affordability, real-estate market, and the quality of life. Each dimension had corresponding and weighted metrics.

In their report, WalletHub found Fort Worth has the sixth-best real estate market in the nation. In this dimension, they factored median home price appreciation, homes sold in a year, the share of housing units built between 2010-2017, homeownership rate for millennials, and other metrics.

Overall, Fort Worth came in No. 52 of the 300 evaluated cities. It ranked No. 112 in quality of life and No. 173 in affordability. Dallas landed at 204 in the overall ranking list.

#5- Dallas-Fort Worth top market for real estate investors

The annual investment market survey conducted by PwC and Urban Land Institute placed Dallas-Fort Worth at No. 6 for real estate investment. While this is a reduction from last year’s top spot, it’s still a top 10 placement showing the DFW area is a strong market for real estate investment and development.

Bisnow summarized the report, which cited, “shrinking yields, oversaturation fears and memories of former boom-bust cycles in the Big D” as the reason for the shift from No. 1 in 2018 to No. 6 in 2019. However, the report noted DFW is still a strong market for C-suite real estate executives and the area’s population growth is sustaining demand for real estate. The market is maintaining its affordability when compared to other markets of similar size, and when factoring our no-income-tax state.

#6- DFW is a top market for home sellers

Not only is Fort Worth a great place to buy, but it’s also equally a great time to sell, says an analysis conducted by Zillow.

In their housing market analysis of 35 large metro areas, Dallas-Fort Worth ranked No. 24 with a median home value of $242,600. The Buyer-Seller Index compares the sale-to-list-price ratios, percentage of listings with a price cut and how long homes stay on the market to come up with rankings.

It’s worth noting that North Texas Real Estate Information Systems (NTREIS) shows Tarrant County had a median sales price of $247,000 in August 2019, a 6.2 percent year-over-year increase. Our area had a median sales price of $265,000 year-to-date as of August 2019, which is a 2.9 percent increase from 2018. Median sale prices have steadily risen since 2012.

#7- Fort Worth real estate shows big price gains

Earlier in the year, the Dallas News reported Fort Worth had 5.7 percent year-over-year home price increase, outstripping the national average of four percent. It was the largest increase of any Texas metropolitan area.

Home values were predicted to grow 4.7 percent over the next year. To date, Tarrant County reported a 3.8 percent gain in median home prices compared to the same time frame from 2018. With a low 2.5 months’ supply of inventory, those home price gains are likely to continue.

#8- Fort Worth improving walkability

If Fort Worth has faced any quality of life-themed challenges, it has been with its walkability. A neighborhood’s walkability is an increasingly attractive trait as our culture shifts to a more live/work/play in one area lifestyle.

Some neighborhoods are clearly more pedestrian-friendly than others. If anything, Fort Worth is known for its disjointed network of sidewalks, especially in established neighborhoods. The city knows this and is paying attention to the voices of its citizens. The Star-Telegram reports, “Fort Worth will invest an additional $750,000 in sidewalk work as part of the 2020 budget City Council members approved Tuesday.”

#9- Live in Fort Worth to make money

Some cities are so cost-prohibitive it’s hard for people to generate enough income to want to stay there. Enter GOBankingRates’ study of 188 U.S. cities to find the best places where residents not throw away their take-home pay on living expenses.

Overall, Texas performed well on their metrics, and Fort Worth ranked No. 13. The study examined the median household income, cost of living, median home list price, labor force participation rate and top income tax rate in each city. It noted our no-income-tax state helped boost its ranking a few notches.

#10- Fort Worth is a top-growing city

City Lab claims Fort Worth is the third fastest-growing city in the United States, based on population growth. Our city had a 12 percent population growth, compared to No. 2 Austin’s 12.8 percent.

The same study analyzed job market growth. There, Fort Worth beat Austin, coming in at No. 3 and No. 6, respectively. Our local job market grew 21.5 percent from 2012 to 2017.

The study looked strictly at cities and not metropolitan areas, like the greater DFW metroplex. It determined its rankings by multiple factors, “including population growth, job growth, the growth in college graduates and the growth in the creative class — measured against economic inequality and housing affordability.”

#11- Fort Worth loves small businesses

Coming from a family operating a small business here in Fort Worth, we personally can attest to the friendly small-business atmosphere in our city. San Francisco-based Thumbtack, an app that helps businesses find local professionals projects, ranked Fort Worth No. 2 for small business friendliness on its 2019 Small Business Friendliness Survey. Their survey factored in items like licensing requirements, tax regulations, and labor and hiring regulations.

#12- DFW excellent for start-ups

Dallas-Fort Worth ranked as the third best metropolitan area for startups in the United States, according to Clever.com. While four Texas cities made the top ten, only Austin beat the DFW metroplex.

The analysis ranked the 50 most populated metropolitan areas by analyzing their startup density, the proportion of people employed at a startup or self-employed, cost of living, education, and startup growth over time. It weighed the metrics, with cost of living receiving the most weight (40 points), followed by startup growth (30 points), startup density (20 points), and investment in business (20 points). Education and employment has the lowest weight (10 points).

DFW ranked no. 9 in the evaluator’s density, growth, and investment in business measures, while hitting no. 30 for cost of living. Nonetheless, its overall ranking was third between Austin and Atlanta, GA.

The report noted “Texas was ranked highly (#1 or #2) on many of our state-wide measures, including new and growth of business applications, number of private equity backed businesses, billions invested in businesses, and number of private equity firms.”

Specifically about DFW, the ranking noted the area’s increased population isn’t expected to slow down. It cited the over 40 colleges in the area fueling our talent pool and the large number of investors supplying capital to new businesses.

Putting it together

When you see the headlines and content compiled together, a common theme starts to emerge. People want to live in the Fort Worth area. We are a center for innovation and friendly for businesses. Our strong economy fuels the job market, which will continue to bring talent to our area.

This continued growth makes the real estate market attractive for real estate investors, home sellers, and home buyers at every stage. Finding the right opportunity means working with Fort Worth’s most knowledgeable real estate team, the Chicotsky Real Estate Group. Let us put our inside knowledge of Fort Worth real estate to work for you, whether you’re searching for your next home or looking for an investment opportunity.