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If you’re thinking about selling your Houston home, it’s impossible to ignore all of the new Construction going on around the city. As more potential homebuyers and renters put pressure on the real estate market, the builders are scrambling to keep up. What does this mean for Houston homeowners?
Top 15 Construction Boom Towns in America
Houston is clearly enjoying a Construction Boom. According to data compiled by Forbes, Houston ranks #3 in a list of the busiest construction markets across the nation:
- New York, NY
- Dallas, TX
- Houston, TX
- Los Angeles, CA
- Chicago, IL
- Washington, D.C.
- Miami, FL
- Boston, MA
- Atlanta, GA
- Seattle, WA
- Lake Charles, LA
- Phoenix, AZ
- Orlando, FL
- San Francisco, CA
- Denver, CO
Cities on this list are ranked by the amount of money spent on new construction, including single-family homes as well as multifamily units, retail, schools, and other projects. This ranking doesn’t count money spent on municipal projects such as streets, bridges, and parks.
How Will the Construction Boom Impact the Houston Housing Market?
The current construction boom in Houston is directly tied to low inventory, which has been insufficient for a skyrocketing number of home shoppers. As the pent-up demand drives a surge in new construction, the housing market is becoming increasingly competitive.
New homes typically cost almost 50 percent more than existing homes, according to the National Association of Realtors. That puts them out of reach for first-time buyers, who constitute a major segment of home shoppers.
That puts pressure on the lower end of the market, as shoppers snap up lower-priced properties. But the sheer volume of new construction can make it difficult for sellers of low-priced properties to compete.
New Home Construction Is Booming Nationwide
Higher demand from prospective home buyers is encouraging builders to step up construction all across the country. New groundbreakings have reached an average annual rate of almost 1.2 million, a 5 percent increase over last year.
In the Houston metro area, there were 11,092 building permits issued year to date in 2016. In 2017, that number rose 2 percent to 11,262 permits year to date.
Nationwide, there were 90.6 million building permits issued for single-family homes in 2016. This year, that number has jumped 23 percent to 111.4 million permits, or more than 20 million new properties planned for construction.
Demand is so high that 86 percent of construction firms are having difficulty finding enough workers to meet demand, according to a recent AGC survey. In 2011, during the economic crisis, the number of people employed in construction dropped to a low of 5.4 million. Since then, the ranks of construction workers have swelled to 6.7 million people, and the industry still faces a labor shortage.
How to Sell Your House in Any Market
The current combination of high demand, loose credit, and rising wages makes it unlikely that the building boom will slow down anytime soon. Its ultimate effects on the Houston housing market are impossible to predict. But there is one certainty for Houston sellers.
Regardless of the direction the housing market takes next, you can always sell your house as-is, hassle-free, to HomeVestors, the “We Buy Ugly Houses” people. Find out today how easy it is to sell your house for cash.
This post first appeared on These Houston Neighborhoods Were Voted Best Places To Raise A Family, please read the originial post: here
