Texas is 4th Most Valuable Resi Market in U.S.

Texas has the fourth most-valuable residential real estate market in the nation, despite challenges like rising mortgage rates and limited housing supply.

The Lone Star State’s housing market carries a value of roughly $3.3 trillion, behind No. 1 California at $10 trillion, Florida at nearly $4 trillion and New York’s $3.6 trillion, according to a report from Zillow.

Dallas-Fort Worth accounts for the largest portion of Texas’ value, with a residential market worth $956 billion. Through the first quarter of this year, 74,000 apartments were under construction in DFW, marking a record high. Plus, North Texas home prices have increased in six consecutive months, following a stretch of decreases after the post-pandemic housing boom peaked last summer.

Houston ranked second among Texas cities, holding a market value of $767 billion. Trailing the Bayou City were Austin at $428 billion and San Antonio at $252 billion.

The total value of the U.S. housing market is at a record high of $52 trillion, the report says. That’s up 49 percent from before the pandemic.

While the 1.3 percent bump in average home values nationwide contributed to the record, a surge in new construction is the main source. Since frenzied housing demand wiped out gobs of inventory in the initial years of the pandemic, builders have been busy chipping away at the housing shortage.

Sales are down because of hiked mortgage rates causing many would-be sellers to hold off, but they’re expected to pick back up throughout the remainder of 2023, the report says.

Moreover, builders are offering incentives like interest rate buy-downs to kickstart buying activity. This tactic allows builders to pay a portion of a home’s cost upfront to lower the interest rate, essentially discounting the property without changing the asking price.

—Quinn Donoghue