Dallas-Fort Worth has been the hottest market for multifamily properties over the last decade. The market is expansive, stretching across 11 counties and 9,300 square miles with many opportunities for development. Across the metro, 149,000 units were built since 2010, most in the nation by metro. It also had the most deal flow. 2,227 multifamily deals were completed in the last decade, totaling 516,693 units.

Atlanta may have been behind DFW in transactions, closing 2,134, but it had more units trade hands — 36,685 more, in fact — totaling 553,378 units. Phoenix, NYC and Houston all had around 1,700 deals completed by year-end 2019. Surprisingly, Houston tallied more than 425,000 units that changed hands while the much larger market of Los Angeles transacted 134,000.

Interestingly, Houston was keeping pace with DFW in multifamily transactions until 2015. Part of the reason the two diverged is that oil prices fell and the energy-concentrated business environment in Houston contracted as oil companies began layoffs, sending ripples through the local economy and real estate industry. Houston added less than 5,000 jobs in November of 2015, less than half of a typical month — and the third worst in 25 years.