Pocketbook pain

This fetching Fort Worth neighbor led the way for sky-high rent hikes in 2021, says report

The higher the rent, the further out of reach a down payment can be.

Photo by Krisanapong Detraphiphat/Getty

A recent New York Times article suddenly shot Euless to superstardom as the best place to live in the U.S. But now it has another, more dubious claim to fame: It's the Dallas-Fort Worth city with biggest sticker shock for renters last year.

An analysis by the Zumper website of rents in 14 DFW cities found the typical rent for a one-bedroom apartment in Euless jumped a whopping 25.3 percent from December 2020 to December 2021. That ranks as the steepest increase among the 14 cities. A one-bedroom apartment in Euless currently rents for $1,140 (which is low compared to some other local cities, like Frisco — keep reading).

Irving and Lewisville weren’t far behind Euless for the year-over-year rise in rent for a one-bedroom apartment. In Irving, the typical rent went up 24 percent to $1,290. Lewisville saw the typical rent for a one-bedroom apartment climb 23.8 percent to $1,300.

Only one of the 14 cities witnessed a single-digit rise in the rent for a one-bedroom apartment in December 2021 compared with December 2020. In Fort Worth, rent increased 6.7 percent to $1,120.

By comparison, the rent for a one-bedroom apartment in Dallas climbed 14 percent from December 2020 to December 2021, landing at $1,380.

Meanwhile, the Zumper analysis shows the region’s highest December 2021 rent for a one-bedroom apartment was in Frisco ($1,530, up 21.4 percent from December 2020). Next in line were Richardson ($1,460, up 15 percent) and Plano ($1,430, up 19.2 percent).

At the other end of the scale, Arlington claims the cheapest rent for a one-bedroom apartment — $1,000, up 11.1 percent from a year earlier. Arlington is preceded by Denton ($1,050, up 10.5 percent) and Garland ($1,090, up 17.2 percent).

The rise in DFW apartment rents reflects more demand than supply. From 2010 through 2020, North Texas has ranked first for apartment demand among U.S. metro areas, according to RealPage, a supplier of apartment data and analytics.

A new report from ApartmentData.com shows the December apartment occupancy rate in DFW stood at 93.4 percent. That was the highest occupancy rate among the state’s four major metro areas.

“In what has been a remarkable bounce-back year for the multifamily industry nationally, the Dallas-Fort Worth market has been the leader in both new supply and apartment demand,” ALN Apartment Data reported in October.

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Elite address

One Texas community makes list of the richest small towns in America

Photo courtesy of Compass

Bunker Hill Village is a coveted address in the Houston area.

An upscale community in Texas is among the top 10 richest towns in America, according to a new 2024 report. The community is Bunker Hill Village in Houston, and it's home to the richest residents in Texas. Sorry, Colonial Hills.

The analysis, by loan provider TitleMax, lists the 50 richest small towns — one from each state — using median household income data from the U.S. Census Bureau. In Bunker Hill Village, the median household income is about $250,000, the report says.

Of course, "small town" is a bit of a misnomer for Bunker Hill Village. Situated 13 miles west of downtown Houston, Bunker Hill joins five other communities – Hunters Creek, HiIlshire, Hedwig, Piney Point, and Spring Valley – to make up Houston's iconic Memorial Villages. In 2023, Bunker Hill was ranked the third-most expensive Houston neighborhood, with homes on the market for upwards of $2.7 million.

Notably, the area is home to Houston's only Frank Lloyd Wright-designed house.

"We are very proud of our quiet, wooded environment, and as a community, we work hard to preserve it for future generations," the city's website says.

The study found that more than half (56.5 percent) of the 1,250-home community make over $200,000 a year, while the enclave's median household income amounts to $247,188.

To put that into perspective, TitleMax revealed that the national median household income is $67,521. The Census Bureau's 2023 American Community Survey estimates the median income of a household in Texas came out to $75,780 in 2023.

Bunker Hill joins the likes of Houston's Bellaire and West University Place as some of the most affluent suburbs in America. The North Texas suburb of Southlake also made it on that list.

The No. 1 slot went to Monte Sereno, a suburb of San Jose, California with a median household income of more than $250,000, according to the report.

"While many people consider cities to be the epicenters of the rich, many retreat to small towns that offer safety, beauty, and privacy," the report's author wrote.

These are the top 10 wealthiest small towns in America, with their median household incomes:

No. 1 – Monte Sereno, California ($250,000-plus)
No. 2 – Cherry Hills Village, Colorado ($250,000-plus)
No. 3 – Mission Hills, Kansas ($250,000-plus)
No. 4 – Short Hills, New Jersey ($250,000-plus)
No. 5 – Scarsdale, New York ($250,000-plus)
No. 6 – Belle Meade, Tennessee ($250,000-plus)
No. 7 – Glencoe, Illinois ($248,851)
No. 8 – Bunker Hill Village, Texas ($247,188)
No. 9 – Clyde Hill, Washington ($238,958)
No. 10 – Chevy Chase Village, Maryland ($238,333)

The full report can be found on titlemax.com.

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