The number of new residential projects breaking ground in San Antonio fell for the second quarter in a row.
Real estate analytics firm Zonda found that 2,274 new projects started in the San Antonio-New Braunfels area during the fourth quarter of 2022, the San Antonio Business Journal reported. That marks a 47 percent drop from the previous quarter.
Zonda visually confirmed each time concrete was poured for a single housing unit and found that the boom in new construction brought on by the pandemic is starting to taper in the Alamo City.
The concrete pouring for new units dropped for the second consecutive quarter since a record-breaking 6,736 starts in the second quarter of 2022. Zonda predicts the total number of starts in 2023 to land somewhere between 16,000 and 17,000, similar to the 16,389 total in 2020.
Keith Hughes, Zonda’s director of business development told the outlet that the decline means the market is starting to stabilize. “We’re going to get back to a sustainable pace of building,” he said, “Where the trade workers can remain employed, but not putting ourselves in a position where we don’t have enough workers, supplies or any of the problems we had over the last two years.”
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Hughes said more of the existing housing units will need to sell before more new ones will need to be built.
“In San Antonio, there are currently 11,954 homes under construction. Builders need to sell through that inventory, and that might take one, two or even three quarters,” he said. “With discounts and incentives, there is demand out there.”
Going forward, as the housing market stabilizes, fewer and fewer of those discounts and incentives will be offered to potential buyers.
— Victoria Pruitt