Abilene TX: Follow Up

[Robert Johnson]

I posted recently about the impact of the new AI data center on Abilene, Texas, and wanted to follow up with some other data points that are shaping the market.

Rental Inventory
Compared to the broader North Texas region, Abilene’s rental inventory has fallen sharply. In January 2025, DFW sat at about 2.3 months of rental supply, while Abilene had only 1.4. Fast forward to July 2025 and DFW is at 2.4 months, but Abilene is down to just 0.5 months of inventory. Properties are leasing more than twice as fast here; 11 days on market vs. 25 days region-wide.

For-Sale Inventory
Something similar is happening on the sales side. Until early 2025, Abilene’s for-sale inventory moved in lockstep with the larger regional market. Once data center employees began arriving, the numbers split: inventory here tightened while DFW’s kept climbing. That’s showing up in quicker sales and higher demand locally.

Closed Sales
Abilene is also bucking the regional slowdown in transaction volume. In July 2025 we had 214 closed sales, which beat the seasonal peaks of both 2023 (192) and 2024 (182) and nearly matched 2022 (217). Meanwhile, DFW sales have been sliding downward since 2020.

What This Means for Investors

• Rentals are scarce and leasing fast.

• For-sale inventory is tightening.

• Transaction volume is holding strong here while larger markets soften.

It feels like we’re seeing a local market diverge from regional trends, which could be an opportunity for investors looking for stability and growth at a reasonable price point.

Curious to hear what others think: when you see a smaller market bucking regional trends, do you lean in on the momentum or wait to see if things normalize?