HOUSTON – Houston ranks No. 2 in the nation in housing starts, behind only Dallas, as Texas continues to show exceptional strength in home building.
Houston had 27,713 housing starts for the 12-month period ending Sept. 30, according to Metrostudy, a national housing and research firm. That’s a 6.4 percent increase over 2016.
Dallas remained as the top new home market in the country, with builders starting 31,911 homes in the twelve months ending in the third quarter of 2017. Dallas has experienced strong job growth and relocation activity that includes the relocation of the Toyota North American Headquarters.
Houston has seen an uptick in job growth in 2017 and existing home sales are running at a record-setting pace. Home building has been pushed by pent-up demand and population growth.
Houston builders sold 7,540 houses in the third quarter, up slightly from the 7,427 sold in the third quarter of 2016, Metrostudy reported.
Metrostudy reported that most Houston builders were relatively unscathed by Hurricane Harvey, although a few builders reported as much as 4 percent of their properties were damaged in the storm.
“Houston’s new home market and general economic conditions cannot be discussed without touching on the impacts of Hurricane Harvey, which damaged 167,000 single family homes throughout the Greater Houston Area. ,” said Lawrence Dean, Regional Director of Metrostudy’s Houston market. “In general, Metrostudy does not anticipate any significant increase in new home sales demand generated by Harvey victims until 1Q18. These potential future buyers are simply focused on managing their damaged homes, temporary housing, insurance claims, and FEMA assistance to be able to move forward on purchasing new homes until this timeframe.”
Metrostudy anticipates ending the year with a 5 percent to 6 percent annual increase in Houston single family starts in 2017 followed by a more modest 2 percent to 3 percent increase at the end of 2018.