THE ALLMANAC

Frisco, McKinney Top List of Best Real Estate Markets

DFW: Frisco, one of the fastest-growing cities in the country, has topped a list as the country’s best real estate market. And in WalletHub’s latest rankings, McKinney is No. 2 and Denton is No. 5. The northern Dallas suburbs topped the list of 300 cities that were measured across 17 key points. Among the indicators were job growth, cost of living, new homes, housing affordability and median home-price gains. WalletHub, a fintech and personal finance company, said that both Frisco and McKinney, located in fast-growing Collin County, have more new homes built between 2010 and 2024. Frisco, which has surged more than 500% in population since the start of the century, was cited for its job growth and affordable homes. McKinney scored high because of its burgeoning job market and its Top 10 building permit ranking. Allen and Richardson also made WalletHub’s Top 20 list, as did North Carolina’s Durham, Cary, Raleigh and Charlotte.

TEXAS: The state’s residential real estate market has continued to show resilience in a challenging environment that includes higher home prices and mortgage rates and uncertainty over the global economy. The Texas Real Estate Research Center at Texas A&M University reports that home sales were up 8.6% in June, compared to June 2025. It said that sales were up broadly across the state as the reality of higher mortgage rates hit buyers, who came off the sidelines to close on the best homes and deals available. The center said that price declines were more drastic in Austin and San Antonio, but that sales in those metro areas were higher compared to Dallas and Houston. The median existing home sales price across the state was $342,900 in June, up from $340,000 in May. The median existing home sales price in the Dallas area in June stood at around $399,000. Across the country, the median existing home sales price was up nearly 2% in June from $438,600 to $446,400, compared to June 2025.

DFW: A planned mega resort near downtown Dallas has received approval from a key governmental body. The Dallas City Plan and Zoning Commission has approved a zoning request from the Therme Group for its proposed $850 million wellness resort in the Cedars neighborhood south of downtown Dallas. The Austrian-based company would operate a 450,000-square-foot indoor spa, sauna, water and wellness center, plus more than five acres of pools and other venues. City planning commissioners approved the zoning request for the entertainment district that would encompass Therme’s 24-acre site, which also would include a pedestrian bridge and hotel, plus another 37-acre adjoining site owned by a Dallas developer for a future mixed-use project. Therme will seek incentives from the city, arguing that its development could provide more than 1,000 jobs, more than 2 million annual visitors, and more than $2 billion in tax revenue over three decades. The resort could be open within five years if incentives are approved. The zoning request now goes to the full Dallas City Council for approval. 

U.S.:  Office vacancies are dropping across the country, and the reason may surprise you. CoStar Group, the commercial real estate tech and data company, says that office vacancy rates on the national level are now below 14%. And it says the rate will drop at least another percentage point in the coming years. The reason: older buildings unable to secure tenants are being razed and developers facing higher costs are holding off on new construction. CoStar says the overall national office space in the pipeline has stalled at around 50 million square feet for several years. And over the past year, inventory of office space across the country has dropped by 7 million square feet because of the demolitions and stalled construction. 

IRELAND: Mark Zuckerberg finally has a castle. A real Irish one. The Meta CEO and his wife Priscilla Chan recently bought the 19th century Gothic-style castle that is constructed of cut stone and spans more than 16,000 square feet across three stories. Strancally Castle, the couple’s latest addition to a massive $400 million real estate portfolio, is about 100 miles from Meta’s European headquarters in Dublin. The castle sits on more than 400 acres, overlooks the River Blackwater and has been valued at upwards of $35 million. Zuckerberg bought it from a family that has renovated it over the past two decades. The couple also has massive properties in California, Hawaii and Florida.

COPYRIGHT © 2024. Allie Beth Allman & Associates, a HomeServices of America, Inc. company. All Rights Reserved.

THE ALLMANAC