In Texas, there were more than 5,000 new residential construction permits added to the HBW database last month, and Houston was on top for total housing starts.
Although Texas experienced a dip in housing starts in comparison to August, the Lone Star State had ample new residential permits on file with HBW. In September alone, there were 5,025 housing starts having a total construction value of nearly $1.2B.
Texas Residential Construction Permits – September 2016
According to the Associated General Contractors of America’s 2016 workforce survey, Texas construction companies are still reporting difficulty filling positions. Of the companies surveyed, nearly 75% of Texas-based companies reported that they are having difficulty filling hourly trade and craft positions, especially carpenters and concrete workers. Despite this struggle, and out of the four metropolitan areas reviewed (Houston, Dallas, Austin, San Antonio), Houston home builders had 1,958 housing starts last month with a total value of nearly $354M. More than half of all new residential construction permits in the Houston area were from Harris County.
The Dallas area was not far behind for housing starts as there were more than 1,700 starts with a construction value in excess of $535M, the highest total construction value of the four major metropolitan areas. Dallas is also no stranger to the labor pool struggle. According to a recent post by Dallas Business Journal, the labor shortage in Dallas “has added at least $4,000 to the cost of buying a home at a time when builders say they can’t keep up with the region’s demand for housing.” (source: Dallas Business Journal) The higher cost of a home is directly reflected when we compare the average value of construction for homes in Dallas to those across Texas. The average value of residential construction in Dallas is far ahead of the other major cities as it was $312,616 last month. Nearly half of all housing starts in Dallas took place in Collin County.
Austin and its surrounding areas ranked third highest for total housing starts. Last month, there were 969 housing starts in Austin with a total construction value of more than $218M. More than half of all new residential construction activity took place in Travis County (574 permits), while Bastrop County saw the least new residential construction activity for the month.
Although it saw the least new residential construction in September with 385 housing starts and close to $92M in total value, San Antonio was ranked second highest for average value. The average value of housing starts in San Antonio was $237,873, an increase of nearly 15% in comparison to August.
Texas Average Value of Residential Construction – September 2016
As previously mentioned, the counties of Harris (Houston) and Collin (Dallas) were standouts in their given areas for holding the highest concentration of housing starts last month. Statewide, Harris County was ranked #1 for total housing starts with nearly 1,100 new permits and more than $184M in construction value. Collin County ranked second highest with 819 housing starts and nearly $260M in total value, the highest total value of any county reviewed. Travis County in Austin ranked third highest last month for total housing starts with 574 new permits and more than $122M in construction value on file with HBW. Fort Bend County in Houston and Tarrant County in Dallas came in at fourth and fifth highest for total housing starts last month with each area having just over 300 new residential construction permits for the period.
Texas Top Counties for New Resid. Permits – September 2016
Information utilized for the graphs and above listed figures 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.