Texas metros made up 25% of the list of top single-family permit markets in 2012, put together by John Burns Real Estate Consulting and the U.S. Census Bureau.
These markets, which provide a perfect opportunity for homebuilders looking to capitalize on the market recovery, have a number of conditions that place them on the list.
All five of the Texas metros on the list saw double-digit percentage gains year-over-year of existing home sales.
The resale inventory in Houston, Dallas and Austin is below four months of supply, a drop that is inevitably due to the rise in demand. These Texas metros, like most, are experiencing pent-up buyer demand from buyers who waited to buy until after the economic downturn.
The regulation law in these metros allows for new permits to be obtained without much delay. This is helpful to builders who are looking to place additional inventory any place they can, with inventory hitting a 7-year low.
Click on the chart below to see the top single-family permit markets in 2012.
While Texas dominated the absolute volume of permit activity, it did not make the cut in the ‘fastest-growing MSAs.’
However, the website NerdWallet notes that four out of the top ten places to buy a home are in Texas cities, owing to relatively low unemployment rates and higher home affordability.
To see the fastest growing single-family permit markets of 2012, click on the chart below.
“Texas, unlike most major US cities, did not have the extreme price appreciation followed by the bust in home prices in the mid-2000s,” said Allison Wolf, research analyst at John Burns Real Estate Consulting.
“However, it is an ideal time for Texas buyers to enter the market as purchasing power has never been so appealing,” Wolf added. “The historically low interest rates have kept the payment-to-income ratio down and mortgage payments affordable. The Dallas-Fort Worth area, for example, still needs +59% price appreciation to get back to their historical payment-to-income average. Now is the time to buy.”
