Methodology & Approach

The Development Services Department within the City of Fort Worth serves as the clearinghouse for the overwhelming majority of processes and corresponding oversight of all development happening within the city.

Coinciding with the end of the Covid-19 pandemic and the rapid population growth in the area, the Development Services Department has been challenged with maintaining a smooth flow of the development processes and minimizing delays that could result in lost forms of revenue to the city itself, developers, and the local economy.

In an attempt to better understand and conservatively estimate the financial implications of development process delays, The Real Estate Council of Greater Fort Worth retained Highland Market Research to analyze potential lost revenue associated with delays.

Given the complexity of the development process itself, and the multiple lanes of development, it is impossible to definitively quantify the exact dollar amount lost through process delays; however, reasonable assumptions can be made about calculating potential impacts of processing delays.

The process of developing a financially conservative model involved meetings with City of Fort Worth staff including Development Services Director D.J. Harrell and Project Assistant Miranda Meza. Internal department materials including the 2017 Development and Occupation Cost Survey were also provided.

The resulting analysis was created through conversations with City staff, evaluation of internal documents provided to Highland Market Research, as well as information provided on the City of Fort Worth Development Services Department webpage.

The following pages highlight current market conditions, population growth trends, increased demand, process challenges, and the sample lost revenue impacts associated with process delays.

Highland Market Research would like to thank the following individuals for their assistance with the 2022 Development Process – Special Analysis.

D.J. Harrell Director, Development Services Department

Miranda Meza Project Assistant, Development Services Department

Jay Chapa Member, The Real Estate Council of Greater Fort Worth

Current Market Conditions

The City of Fort Worth was the fastest growing large city in the U.S. between 2010 and 2020. The total population increased more than 177,000 persons during that time, resulting in an average of 2.4% growth per year 1 As a result of this rapid growth, Fort Worth is now the 12th largest city in the nation.

The growth can be contributed to many factors including the business-friendly Texas economy, comparable affordability to other major metro areas, and the allure of the Texas lifestyle.

With a young and educated population, development and demand for expanded housing, dining, and working accommodations will continue to rise steadily in the DFW Metroplex (Tables 1 and 2).

Specifically, demand and pricing for residential housing in the area has created a 21.4% yearover-year increase in the median close price (Table 3 on the following page).

Additionally, the median February 2022 close price in the DFW metroplex is approximately 14% higher than the February 2022 median close price on a home elsewhere in Texas.

Regional unemployment also continues its downward trend post-pandemic (Chart 1).