Question 1

Is the City of Dallas actually where I should be building?

Accepted Answer

Usually not, if you are chasing population growth. The City of Dallas grew about 1.9% over five years while outer-ring cities in the northeastern part of the metro more than doubled, and Celina was the fastest-growing city in the country in 2025. DFW as a whole reached 8,477,157 residents in the July 1, 2025 Census vintage estimate, a one-year gain of 123,557 people, or roughly 339 a day, and picked up about 270,000 residents through net domestic migration between 2020 and 2025, nearly 40% more than any other U.S. metro. Job growth backs it up: Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington posted the largest over-the-year employment increase of any U.S. metro as of mid-2026, at about 54,600 jobs. When a builder tells us they are doing a Dallas deal, the first thing we want is the actual city and school district, because the demand curve and the cost basis both change with it.

Question 2

How should I underwrite the sale on a DFW spec build right now?

Accepted Answer

Budget for a longer marketing period than resale, and flat pricing. As of July 2026, DFW new construction closed 1,624 sales, down 26.1% year over year, at an average sold price of $465.0K, up 0.9%. Active new-construction listings were 8,674, months of inventory 4.45, and days on market 86, against 58 days for resale. Resale sat at 6.00 months of inventory with an average sold price of $479.9K and closings at 94.9% of original list. Read together: new construction is the tighter of the two segments on supply, but it takes about a month longer to move, and buyers are not paying up. Our construction terms run 12 to 24 months, and on a DFW spec deal we would rather write the term long enough to sell into that pace than watch you buy an extension.

Question 3

What does the property tax spread cost me while I am building?

Accepted Answer

Between roughly 1.68% and 2.24% of assessed value a year, decided by the city, ISD and county combination rather than the city alone. For tax year 2025, a property in the City of Dallas inside Dallas ISD carried a total rate of 2.235030 per $100 of assessed value, while Frisco inside Frisco ISD and Collin County carried 1.675480. That is about 56 basis points, or roughly $2,800 a year on a $500,000 basis, which on a 24 month build is real money against your interest reserve. It gets more granular than that: a Dallas address spans at least seven ISDs, from 2.104563 in Highland Park ISD to 2.362101 in Lancaster ISD inside Dallas County, and can also sit in Collin or Denton County at a materially lower county component. Pull the rate for the exact parcel before you set the carry budget, and take the tax planning itself to your CPA.

Question 4

Do MUDs and PIDs change the math on a new subdivision lot?

Accepted Answer

Yes, and they sit on top of the rates above rather than inside them. The 2025 Old Republic rate guide lists dozens of municipal utility districts, public improvement districts and other special districts across Collin and Denton counties, several levying a full 1.000000 per $100 of assessed value. On a Frisco-area total of about 1.68%, a district at that level takes the all-in rate to about 2.68%. New lots in the fast-growing outer ring are exactly the places most likely to carry one, because the district is often how the horizontal infrastructure got paid for in the first place. It affects two things we care about: your carry during construction, and what your buyer's monthly payment looks like at the exit. Confirm the district on the parcel, not on the subdivision brochure.

Question 5

Can you tell me how long permits take in Dallas, Frisco or McKinney?

Accepted Answer

No, and we would rather say so than guess. We looked for a published plan-review turnaround target or a performance dashboard from Dallas, Plano, Frisco, McKinney, Arlington, Irving, Garland and Mesquite, and could not confirm one for any of the eight. The same is true of development, roadway and utility impact fees, which are set by ordinance city by city and are individually verifiable but were not verified for this page. So we do not publish a day-count or a fee number for North Texas. What we do instead is underwrite your build to the schedule and the fee stack your jurisdiction actually gives you, in writing, and size the term and the interest reserve around that. Bring the permit path you can document and we will lend to it.

Question 6

Does a build-to-rent exit work better than a sale in DFW?

Accepted Answer

The lease side is the tightest of the three segments, but rents are not growing. In July 2026, DFW closed 4,613 leases, down 12.4% year over year, with active lease listings down 18.7% and lease months of inventory at 2.19, well below the 6.00 months on resale and 4.45 on new construction. Average closed rent was about $2.4K, down 0.1% year over year, and leases signed at 98.4% of original list in 44 days. Rentometer's mid-year report puts Dallas single-family rents down 2.2% year over year across the first half of 2026, naming Dallas among the underperforming Sun Belt markets. So a rental exit will find a tenant faster than a sale finds a buyer, but any pro forma built on rent growth will not clear. Underwrite the hold at today's rent, not next year's.

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