Dallas-Fort Worth Area Home Starts Down 12% From Last Year

Midway through 2026, the rate at which homes are built in the Dallas Fort Worth Metroplex decreased from last year by almost 12 percent.

Homebuilders across North Texas started construction on a total of 11,290 homes this quarter, down 6.5 percent from 2025’s second quarter. Over the last four quarters, the number of new homes under construction dropped to 39,962, down 11.7 percent year over year, according to the Dallas Morning News.

Residential Strategies, the market research firm whose findings were cited, told the outlet that the numbers were important to put in context. Mortgage rates are steadily climbing, up to more than 6.5 percent, and the mercurial status of the war in Iran are economic factors that need to be considered. The peaks and valleys of oil prices have caused uncertainty in the markets, and inflation rates are a factor as well.

The firm’s report on the second quarter found that builders are saying that they met sales targets, but the profit margins are feeling the heat. While the mortgage rates are rising, home buyers are still moving forward with purchases. The average homebuyer has seen that the rates aren’t going to drop significantly any time soon, and their moves have dropped the amount of finished new vacant houses to the lowest level in two years, according to the outlet. Homebuilders might have helped those numbers by discounting homes, however.

Rentals were hit hard, according to the outlet, with figures dropping to 688 units finding shovels hitting dirt in the second quarter of 2026. Residential Strategies told the publication that the rental sector simply isn’t as profitable as it has been in the past, and is currently on a downward trend. Over the last four quarters in the Dallas-Fort Worth metro, rental home starts have been at 7.6 percent of construction activity.

— Hunter Cooke