HBW Report: New Residential Construction Permits in Texas through Q2-2017
Through the first half of this year, Texas is ahead of 2016 in new residential construction. With more than 36.2k housing starts on file with HBW this year, Texas has experienced a 9% year-over-year increase in new home construction.
TX Total Permits by Area – Q2-2016 vs. Q2-2017
Out of the four major metro areas reviewed (Dallas, Houston, Austin, San Antonio), Houston and Dallas continue to drive growth in the Texas housing market. Just through the second quarter, there were more than 15.2k housing starts in Houston, reflecting an 11% increase in comparison to the same time last year. More than half of all new residential permits in Houston originated from Harris County which has experienced a year-over-year spike of more than 13% in new home construction.
While Dallas ranked second highest for total housing starts (>11.7k permits), it remains a leading metro area for higher value (>$500k) homes in Texas. Through the second quarter of this year, the Dallas area experienced a 12% year-over-year increase in new residential construction, and approximately 8% of those starts were for construction projects valued over $500k. Out of the Dallas counties reviewed, Tarrant and Collin were standouts as more than half of all new home construction took place there through the second quarter. The Dallas county that is experiencing the most year-over-year growth in housing starts by far is Rockwell County where there has been more than a 43% increase in new residential construction permits.
Moving on to the Austin area, there has been a small but noticeable year-over-year increase of 4%, with incremental growth each quarter. Out of the nearly 5,900 housing starts in Austin through June of this year, the bulk of new construction took place in Travis County (3,492 permits), where there has been more than a 15% year-over-year increase in new residential construction. While there were drops in new permits averaging around -15% in both Williamson and Bastrop counties, the increases in all other Austin areas reviewed are keeping home building rates steady.
San Antonio was the only metro area in Texas that did not experience an increase in housing starts through Q2. That being stated, the minor dip of -1% in housing starts is not sounding any alarms, as the area is tracking similarly to residential construction patterns thru Q2 of last year. Out of the close to 3,400 housing starts in San Antonio through June, just about half took place in Bexar County (1,573 permits), where there has been more than a 4% increase in residential construction activity in comparison to the same time last year.
TX Top 5 Counties for Total Permits thru Q2 – 2016 vs. 2017
Information utilized for the reports and graphs for Texas residential construction was directly derived from HBW 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.