Freeway Access, Strong Infrastructure Are Key As Suburban DFW Renter Demand Surges

Multifamily supply is chasing demand in much of the Metroplex but especially in Dallas-Fort Worth’s suburbs, with apartment completions on a downswing and occupancy rates increasing.

Occupancy rates throughout the region rose over the last two quarters, hitting nearly 94% in Q1, according to a first-quarter DFW multifamily report from Colliers.

And as the population grows fast in the region’s northern submarkets, cities like Plano, Irving and Grapevine collectively saw less than 1,000 new units delivered over the past 12 months, making them especially hot markets as the suburbs roar back.

“Demand is pretty insatiable right now and the supply is having a hard time keeping up,” Legacy Partners Senior Managing Director Matt Brendel said during the DFW Bisnow Multifamily Annual Conference Tuesday at the Hilton Anatole in Dallas. “In DFW specifically, I think we've peaked on supply.”

Multifamily opportunities abound in DFW’s northern suburbs. But municipalities to the east and west are also prime opportunities as newcomers flock and outward expansion of the Metroplex continues, event panelists said.

Cities with easy access to major thoroughfares, sound infrastructure and employment hubs have proven themselves to be the best targets for multifamily developers looking to get ahead of the region’s growth, especially as supply is absorbed.

The first three months of 2025 marked the 10th straight quarter of reduced multifamily construction activity in DFW. Just under 48,000 units were in progress, with fewer than 9,000 expected to be delivered in the next 12 months, per Colliers.

Grouped together as one submarket, Allen and McKinney topped the chart for deliveries over the past year with nearly 4,600 new units. Denton was just behind with 2,200. Located right off U.S. Highway 75, Allen and Fairview benefit from quick freeway access, allowing commuters an easier trip to the region's big employment hubs, Billingsley Co. partner Sumner Billingsley said.

“We're very, very bullish on … Allen and Fairview in particular,” Billingsley said. “That market has been hit with a lot of supply of late, but it's going to continue to see that population growth and continue to see that business growth in a massive way.”

Nestled along Interstate 635 and the Sam Rayburn Tollway, Coppell is another favorite for Billingsley Co.

“Coppell has been incredibly strong throughout the last decade for us, and we're going to continue to double and triple down on it,” Billingsley said. “That comes back to great accessibility there, great jobs and a phenomenal school district as well as nature amenities, retail amenities, entertainment.”

Billingsley Co. also has Plano, McKinney, Carrollton and Farmers Branch in its sights. 

“Our business strategy forever has sort of been [to] try to see where population growth is going, and then get out in front of it,” Billingsley said. “There are a lot of other great areas of opportunity in this Metroplex, no doubt.”

DFW has been expanding for the last 50 years, and developer Craig Hall’s 400-plus acre Craig Ranch master-planned community in McKinney is a pertinent example of what can be done before a wave of growth hits an area, Brendel said. 

“Craig Hall built an amazing campus in the exurbs, and it's the center of the Metroplex now,” Brendel said. “If you're thinking in terms of decades from now, everyone makes fun of Sherman and Texoma, but there are large land holdings there, and eventually we will be growing into Sherman and Texoma.”

​​As the populations grow to the east and west of the Metroplex, there are opportunities for multifamily expansions in both directions, but Brendel said a bigger possibility lies in DFW’s south. 

“The real opportunity is if we could figure out how to get infrastructure going south,” he said.

Infrastructure has proven to be a key driver of growth in the suburbs and beyond, with ZOM Living Senior Vice President Jason Haun identifying the expansions of State Highways 121 and 380 as well as the planned continuation of the Dallas North Tollway to the Grayson County line as prime examples.

Located just off State Highway 121, Dallas Fort Worth International Airport announced a $4B expansion at the beginning of May.

Meanwhile, the $2B Fields West mixed-use development near the Dallas North Tollway in Frisco is expected to go vertical this fall, according to the Dallas Business Journal. The 344K SF luxury mixed-use development Legacy West, which is located along the DNT in Plano, sold for $785M to Kite Realty Group and GIC at the end of April, CoStar reported.

“When you have trades like that and … you've got new projects that are even larger than that that are continuing north, those just continue to grow the nodes of growth and opportunity and jobs,” Haun said. “People want to relocate their businesses close to those nodes, and so those drivers are clearly continuing in those corridors.”

With so many different areas of the Metroplex growing at such a quick pace, it can be difficult for multifamily developers to keep an eye on all of them. That's a good problem to have, panelists said.  

“There's nowhere in the country I would rather be than in DFW right now with the growth that we have,” Billingsley said. “It's like being in LA in the 1960s. We have a blank canvas and there's so much growth, and a rising tide lifts all boats.”