Buyers may find it is becoming increasingly hard to find a less expensive home or apartment in Flower Mound. Local data shows home prices—both existing and new—continuing to trend upward, and apartment rents are following suit.

Realtor Jay Marks with Jay Marks Real Estate in Flower Mound said as of March 22 there were 188 active listings, five of which were under $300,000 and 29 were in the $300,000s.

“[There are] 188 active listings on the market and 133 are under contract,” he said. That sounds like a pretty busy market to me, and that also tells me that if no more houses come on the market then we are out of inventory in a month and a half, or 45 days, in Flower Mound. And whenever you have less than three months of supply of houses that’s a seller’s market.”

Marks said typically first-time homebuyers are looking to buy a home up to $250,000 or $300,000.

Marks said there are new homes being built, but they are all start in the $400,000s and increase from there.

“There is nothing being built in the $300,000s, and that’s because the land is too expensive,” he said. “When builders are paying between $170,000-$250,000 just for a lot they can’t build a $300,000 house.”

For the last decade, Flower Mound’s average apartment rent has steadily increased. As of February, the average rent was $1,444, which is higher than the national average of $1,364, and one of the highest in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, according to RentCafe data. Flower Mound rent rates have increased 5.1 percent year-over-year.

Market drives apartment needs

The housing market also has a trickle-down effect on Flower Mound’s apartment inventory.

The apartment market is experiencing high rent rates and occupancy rates—a local trend that is following a national trend, according to RentCafe, a nationwide apartment website.

Occupancy rates for  Flower Mound apartment complexes were all above 90 percent with the exception of River Walk Village, which was at 82.96 percent as of November 2017.

“Typically, the price is set by looking at the supply and demand in the area as well as the quality of the buildings and what amenities [the apartments] offer and the location,” said Nadia Balint with RentCafe. “Flower Mound’s multifamily rental housing stock consists of mainly Class A and B buildings, so that is reflecting in the rent.”

Council Member Kevin Bryant said rising property taxes are also contributing to increasing rents.

“Because property values of our town and in the area remains high [apartment complex owners] can’t charge cheap rates,” he said. “The owner of the property still has to pay property taxes, and they aren’t going to just absorb that; it’s going to be built in the rent of the apartment.”

Apartments under construction

Town Manager Jimmy Stathatos said as of March there are two multifamily complexes under construction: Elan in the Lakeside area, which was approved by council in 2012, and the apartments in the River Walk at Central Park, which were approved in 2008.

Stathatos said residents may have the perception that the town is approving a plethora of apartments recently, but he noted that since he was hired in 2013, there has only been one multifamily project approved. A multifamily complex in The Point, a mixed-use development at FM 2499 and Silveron Boulevard, was approved in December 2017 but has yet to start construction.

“The River Walk apartments were approved back in 2008, but the downturn of the economy and the change of ownership resulted in the apartments just now going vertical,” Stathatos said. “Most residents assume that just because they’re going vertical right now means they just got approved, but in reality they were approved a decade ago.”