Rents in Dallas were flat last month, five North Texas cities made it to the top of a list of best real estate markets, and the National Association of Realtors provides a summary of the July housing market conditions, all in this week’s roundup of real estate news.

Rents in Dallas Remain Flat in August, Up 2 Percent for Year

Rents in Dallas remained somewhat flat in August and remain below the national average, but they’ve increased 2 percent year-over-year, ApartmentList’s September rent report revealed.

Median rents in Dallas are about $912 for a one-bedroom and $1,134 for a two-bedroom, which is below the national average of $1,191. But the city’s year-over-year rent growth is above the state and national averages, which are 1.6 percent and 1.5 percent, respectively.

But Dallas isn’t an outlier in North Texas when it comes to rent increases. McKinney, where the average two-bedroom apartment rents for $1,442 and a one-bedroom is $1,160,  has had a YOY increase of 3.1 percent.

But a few DFW cities have seen rent drops, or smaller increases than their fellow North Texas cities. Mesquite had a 0.6 percent decline in rents, for instance. But Plano, despite having some of the most expensive rents of the larger cities in the Dallas MSA, has only seen rents increase 0.3 percent over the past month and 2.2 percent over the past year.

Source: Apartment List

Five North Texas Cities Rank as Top Places to Buy a House

Five North Texas cities ranked in the top 10 most attractive real estate markets in the U.S., with seven total in the top 25, WalletHub found.

In its most recent report on 2019’s Best Real Estate Markets, Frisco, Denton, McKinney, Carrollton, and Allen made the top 5. Fort Worth and Richardson were in the top 25.

WalletHub compared 300 cities, using 23 metrics ranging from median home price appreciation to home sales turnover rate, and even job growth.

Source: WalletHub

Pending Home Sales Fell YOY in July

Pending home sales fell 2.5 percent on a year-over-year basis with all four major regions of the country seeing a decline in contract activity in July, the National Association of Realtors reported last week.