Texas Leads the Nation in Single-Family Home Construction
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Texas is apparently crushing it when it comes to new single-family home construction, with the Houston and Dallas metro areas leading the nation, according to a recent report.
An analysis of permit and new home sale data conducted by ConsumerAffairs ranked four metro areas from the Lone Star State among the top 10 cities in the United States based on the number of permits issued and new homes sold in January and February of this year.
Houston, known for being the only big city in the country without any traditional zoning restrictions, clocked 11,047 new building permits issued and 1,314 new homes sold across its metro area. That lack of a municipal check on construction in H-Town undoubtedly gave its metro a considerable advantage over others, leading it to take the No. 1 spot on the list.
Dallas (technically D-FW) came in at No. 2, no doubt to the chagrin of Fort Worth folks whose town was once again subsumed by what the survey deemed the metro’s flagship name. Now, that’s a shame because Dallas proper only accounted for a relatively small share of the metro’s permitting in January and February.
City of Dallas data indicates only 315 single-family permits were issued in those months, representing 3.21% of the total 9,811 logged for D-FW. Some 741 new homes were sold during that same time period.
Land availability, inefficiencies in permitting, and zoning restrictions have frustrated Dallas builders the last several years, but the city’s 3% share of issued permits in January and February are in all likelihood more a reflection of the tremendous sustained growth of the D-FW suburbs.
Consider that Dallas County and Tarrant County did not crack double-digit percentages when it came to population growth between January 2020 and January 2024, according to U.S. Census data reviewed by Dallas Business Journal. Admittedly, this is harder to do since Dallas and Fort Worth have such sizable populations. But growth trajectories in North Texas are plain as day.
Kaufman County (26.7%), Rockwall County (25%), Parker County (19.4%), Johnson County (19.2%), Ellis County (16.3%), Collin County (13.6%), and Denton County (11.1%) put up significant numbers during those four years, absorbing relocations left and right and swelling D-FW’s residential ranks.
Things in Big D may still improve for builders as the Planning & Development Department works to streamline permitting operations and make things easier for customers through its new online development services platform DallasNow.
Additionally, state lawmakers are poised to boost single-family housing stock by eliminating minimum lot size requirements greater than 1,400 square feet for new subdivisions in cities with populations greater than 150,000 that are located in counties with more than 300,000 residents. If enacted, Senate Bill 15 will directly impact how much single-family home construction goes down in Dallas proper, where land is limited and expensive.
The other two metro areas to crack ConsumerAffairs’ top 10 list were San Antonio (No. 8) and Austin (No. 9). They clocked 2,013 and 3,889 issued permits and 748 and 520 new homes sold, respectively. Florida was the only other state to have more than one metro area represented on the top 10 list: Orlando (No. 7) and Tampa (No. 10).
ConsumerAffairs came to its ranking by using two equally weighted metrics: permits issued and home sales. The top metro in each category was awarded 50 points for that metric. All other metros received relative scores. Permit and home sale scores were then added to realize an overall score out of 100 points.
