A review of construction permit data for new home construction in Texas thru Q2-2020

Since the start of this year (through June 2020), new home construction has been steadily on the rise in the Lone Star State.  Based on the latest data available from the HBW database, there has been a 10 percent year-over-year increase in new residential construction from the combined metro areas of Dallas, Houston, Austin and San Antonio, resulting in 40,164 new permits added to the HBW database for the 6-month period.  Across all areas, there has been a spike in housing starts, with year-over-year increases ranging from as low as 6 percent to as high as 18 percent through June 2020.

Here is a closer look each metro area, total permits and leading counties for new home construction through the second quarter of this year:

Houston

If you have been following the HBW blog, it should come as no surprise that Houston continues to carry a higher volume of new home construction month after month.  Since the start of this year (through June), there have been approximately 16,500 housing starts in the Houston area, reflecting a 6 percent year-over-year increase in new residential construction.  Just about half of all new construction permits originated from Harris County (8,225 permits), and the county with the highest percentage of growth in housing starts so far this year is Montgomery County (3,429 permits) with a 20 percent year-over-year increase in new home construction.

Dallas

While Dallas and surrounding areas ranked #2 for volume of housing starts (13,682 permits) through the second quarter of this year, the area demonstrated a greater level of growth in the market in comparison to other areas reviewed as there was an 18 percent year-over-year increase in new home construction.  More than half of all new residential construction activity took place in the counties of Tarrant (4,285 permits) and Collin (3,420 permits), and in comparison to other Texas metro areas reviewed, Dallas is leading for higher value home construction (value >$500k), having more than 700 new higher value residential construction permits on record for the 6-month period.

Austin

In Austin, there were 6,375 housing starts on record with HBW through Q2-2020, reflecting a 6 percent year-over-year increase in residential construction.  Out of the four counties reviewed, Travis County (3,483 permits) and Williamson County (2,288 permits) carried the greatest concentration and bulk of new home construction activity for the 6-month period.

San Antonio

Through the second quarter of this year, there have been 3,608 new residential construction permits added to the HBW database for the San Antonio area, reflecting a 10 percent year-over-year increase in new home construction.  Out of the three counties reviewed, Bexar and Comal both reflected year-over-year increases in housing starts of 10 percent and 16 percent respectively, and the bulk of all new home construction in the San Antonio area took place in Bexar County (2,313 permits).

To gain more information on the builders, homeowners and permits for the construction activity above, check out HBW for your copy of the latest construction data reports. To gain access to the HBW database and receive custom and detailed reports on the latest residential and commercial building activity in Florida, Georgia, Texas, Alabama, and Oklahoma, please contact HBW for details.