HOUSTON – (Realty News Report) – Houston master planned communities, demonstrating strong home building and new home sales, dominated the national rankings, placing 10 communities in the nation’s top 50 home selling neighborhoods in 2021, according to RCLCO Real Estate Advisors.
Houston market leader Bridgeland, with 713 new home sales in 2021, ranked No. 15 in the nation. RCLCO has been conducting a national survey to identify top-selling communities since 1994.
Other Houston master planned communities listed on RCLCO’s top 50 include Balmoral (No. 17 nationally) reported 704 sales last year; followed by Tamarron, Sienna, Sierra Vista/Sterling Lakes, Breckenridge Forest, Meridiana, Woodforest, Cross Creek Ranch, and Elyson.
Suburban master planned communities gained momentum during the Covid era, which increased the need for home offices and a desire for open space.
Many communities that focus on aging baby-boomers registered significant sales in 2021, the RCLCO report said.
Active Adult Housing Strong
The Villages, a seniors “active adult” community in Florida was the No. 1 home seller in the nation with 4,004 sales in 2021, up 63 percent from the 2,452 sales it had in 2020.
Texas has benefitted as the migration from California to Texas has surged in the Covid era. Corporations, including Tesla, have relocated their headquarters from California to Texas.
“Texas continues to be among the most sought-after states in the country and when you look at the great domestic migration that has been taking place as people and business seek a low cost of living and high quality of life in a business-friendly environment, it is easy to understand why Bridgeland is the top-selling community in the Houston region,” said Jim Carman, President of the Houston Region for The Howard Hughes Corp., the developer of Bridgeland and The Woodlands.
Home builders have reported shortages of building materials and the inventory of homes for sale has been tiny in many markets. Land sales have been brisk as developers address aa shortage of lots.
Mortgage rates have been around 3 percent for a couple of years, enabling buyers, including Millennials, to buy homes.
Mortgage rates are expected to rise somewhat in 2022, but still will remain less than 4 percent, according to Frank Nothaft, chief economist of CoreLogic.
Jan.12, 2022 Realty News Report Copyright 2022
Check out the book Houston 2020: America’s Boom Town – An Extreme Close Up by Ralph Bivins. Available on Amazon http://tiny.cc/4a2g6y
Houston 2020 Ebook version https://tinyurl.com/4xm7z8b5
Feature photo credit: Ralph Bivins, Realty News Report Copyright 2022
The RALPH BIVINS PROJECT podcast welcomed guest Frank Nothaft, chief economist of CoreLogic. LISTEN:
File: Houston is Housing Epicenter