New Home Production Booms In Texas, Dwindles In Northeast

Three Texas markets, Dallas, Houston, and Austin, are slated to build 130,000 new homes this year, which represent more than 10 percent of all permits in the U.S., and more than 50 other large metro areas combined.

A new report from Trulia indicates the parts of the country where home building is thriving, and where it is lagging.

In terms of sheer numbers, Dallas, Houston, and New York City are each expected to churn out more than 40,000 new homes this year, while smaller markets including New Haven, Conn., and Worcester, Mass., are projected to build less than 500.

Compared to their historical averages, Austin, Texas, Charleston, S.C., and Nashville, Tenn., are the big winners. Austin is expected to build 107 percent more homes than usual in 2017, while Charleston and Nashville’s new home production will be 72 and 65 percent higher than normal.

On the other end, Worcester, Allentown, Pa., and New Haven are all expected to construct more than 80 percent fewer homes than their historical averages.

Trulia found that employment growth, income growth, and home price growth were the main reasons for the discrepancies in production between the best- and worst-performing markets.

Homebuilding matters more than you might think. … They also help increase existing inventory through a chain-reaction effect: buyers of new homes often sell their existing one, which frees up a home for someone else, who in turn decides to buy it and sell their home, which then becomes a home for a first-time homebuyer.

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