Name: Dallas-Fort Worth homebuilding rockets to record level
Brand: dallasnews.com
SKU: dallasnews-com-429
Availability: OnlineOnly

critic

Dallas-Fort Worth homebuilding rockets to record level

preview

12:19 PM on Apr 12, 2021 CDTNorth Texas home starts surged more than 40% in the first three months of 2021 as builders tried to meet unprecedented housing demand.Builders started a record 15,063 single-family homes across the region.“It was huge numbers,” said Ted Wilson, principal with Dallas-based housing analyst Residential Strategies.For the 12 months ending in March, Dallas-Fort Worth builders got 52,448 houses underway – blowing past records set more than a decade ago.“The strong sales pattern established in 2020 has continued into 2021,” Wilson said. “Builders entered the new year with a record backlog of orders and have found that purchase demand has remained extraordinarily strong despite higher prices and an upward trending 30-year mortgage rate.”Builders were able to set the record even with February’s freeze, which temporarily halted activity, and growing problems with shortages of materials, labor and land.“You can really see some of the constraints builders are facing with respect to materials,” Wilson said. “A lot of houses are ready for brick but no brick pallets are set out.”Builders are also struggling to get wood products, cement and appliances that have been in short supply since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.“With the scarcity of materials, construction costs have climbed dramatically,” Wilson said. “In 2020, direct construction costs were up about 10%. This year prices are already up over 15% by many accounts.”Related:Almost 30,000 homes were under construction in North Texas in the first quarter. And builders have sold thousands of more houses that they haven’t even started yet.“You see a hesitancy among some of the builders because of the huge backlogs,” Wilson said. “They can’t take more orders. They are afraid if they lock a price in the costs will move up and they won’t make as much money.”The spike in demand for new homes in D-FW is being driven by thousands of moves to the area and aging millennials ready to buy their first house.Inventories of preowned North Texas houses have all but dried up, with the number of properties listed for sale with agents at the lowest level in decades.“There is just a lack of exiting housing inventory under $350,000,” Wilson said. " If you are a first-time buyer, you are going to have to look at a new house.”Builders sold more than 11,000 houses in the first three months of 2021 – more than a 17% increase from the same period a year ago.The top areas for home starts include communities in Kaufman County east of Dallas, the U.S. Highway 380 corridor through Denton and Collin counties and new neighborhoods being built north of Fort Worth, according to Residential Strategies.“Forney was up over 70% year-over-year and continues to see big numbers,” Wilson said. “We also see a lot promise in the southern sector. Waxahachie, Red Oak, Midlothian – a lot of builders have migrated to those areas.”Wilson said most of the home starts were for properties priced less than $350,000.“Many renters are being converted into homeowners,” he said.But they’ve got to find a house first.At the end of the first quarter, less than 3,900 finished unsold new houses were on the market in D-FW. That’s only about a one-month supply.Demand for homes in North Texas is expected to increase as the impact of the pandemic subsides.“Builders and developers remain hopeful that economic expansion will return to pre-COVID levels once vaccinations are fully rolled out,” Wilson said. “There appears to be signs that corporate relocation activity will pick up again in coming quarters as well.”The jump in new home activity is on top of recent records set in the existing home market.During the first quarter, preowned single-family home sales by real estate agents in North Texas rose 1% from last year’s high. And median sales prices of houses sold in the area were up 13% from the first quarter of 2020.In March, about 6,000 single-family houses were listed for sale with agents in the more than two dozen North Texas counties included in the preowned home numbers. Home listings are down by more than 70% from a year ago.Get the latest real estate news from Steve Brown and the business staff at The Dallas Morning News.By signing up you agree to our

12:19 PM on Apr 12, 2021 CDTNorth Texas home starts surged more than 40% in the first three months of 2021 as builders tried to meet unprecedented housing demand.Builders started a record 15,063 single-family homes across the region.“It was huge numbers,” said Ted Wilson, principal with Dallas-based housing analyst Residential Strategies.For the 12 months ending in March, Dallas-Fort Worth builders got 52,448 houses underway – blowing past records set more than a decade ago.“The strong sales pattern established in 2020 has continued into 2021,” Wilson said. “Builders entered the new year...

Dallas-Fort Worth homebuilding rockets to record level

No article scores yet.

CRITIC REVIEWS

PUBLIC REVIEWS