According to an article in the Dallas Morning News, Dallas-Fort Worth area apartment rents are seeing declines by as much as 8 percent in some Dallas-Fort Worth neighborhoods. Also, Dallas-Fort Worth apartment vacancy rates are at 10 percent, despite the rise in foreclosures throughout the community.
The article said:
“So far this year, North Texas tenants have moved out of more than 6,900 apartments than were rented. And there were 840 net move-outs during the second quarter alone, M/PF Research says.
As vacancy rates rise to 10 percent, an additional 21,331 D-FW-area apartments are still in the development pipeline.”
Many experts say that as the foreclosures and job losses continue to rise, many families are living in one home with several generations—grandparents and grandchildren included. Many Dallas-Fort Worth homeowners who have suffered a foreclosure are forgoing apartments and opting to move in with family or friends to save cash or simply because they don’t have income to rent their own place.
The downside of all of this is that apartment properties may begin to experience their own financial woes if the economic environment continues to push down rental prices and elevate vacancy rates. We may begin to see a rise in apartment building foreclosures and even more commercial real estate bankruptcies if apartment rental prices continue to fall.