TX home prices, sales reach record highs in 2016

Dive Brief:

Texas home sales and prices reached record highs for the second-consecutive year in 2016, with the median price jumping 7.7% from a year earlier to $210,000 and sales volume climbing 4.6% to 324,924 homes, according to an annual report from the Texas Association of Realtors.
Homes in the state spent an average of 58 days on the market in 2016, down two days on the prior year. The market had 3.3 months of inventory in December, down marginally from December 2015. Active listings rose 6% from 2015 to 96,955 in 2016.
Median home prices in the Dallas–Fort Worth market rose 9.4% in 2016 to $232,000 while sales there rose 4.8% to 98,625 homes. Prices in Houston increased 3.8% to $220,000 and sales were up 2.4% to 80,604. In Austin, home prices climbed 7.7% to $280,000 and the number of homes sold increased 4.4% to 32,933.

Dive Insight:

Population and job growth helped buoy the state's housing market against a broader economic slowdown there during the year, particularly in the energy sector, according to the TAR. Still, with home prices in Texas rising faster than household incomes, affordability is becoming a concern.

The state emerged as a leader in master-planned communities following the recession, taking a 38% share of MPCs nationwide in 2016 compared to 10% in the 1990s, according to a report from real estate consultancy RCLCO. A moderate housing bubble, compared to that of other states, and the persistent presence of the energy sector took the edge off the impact of the housing market crash.

The resulting activity can be seen in Dallas–Fort Worth, for example, with projects like Republic Property Group’s 7,200-acre Walsh MPC currently underway, while developer Gateway Holdings moves closer to opening its $1 billion, 2,000-acre MPC.

In Austin, developer Blakefield LLC’s proposal for a 2,200-acre MPC got the green light from local officials earlier this month. It will include a range of housing typologies as well as nature-based amenities, retail, hotel and entertainment venues.

High land costs and tight financing are limiting the number of thousand-plus-acre developments in favor of smaller land buys, according to RCLCO.

In the greater Houston area, Canadian developer Empire Continental Land recently broke ground on a 206-acre community that will include 540 homes priced for the entry-level market.

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