Katy Edition | July 2022

2022 REAL ESTATE EDITION

NEW COMMUNITIES

Cross Creek West will build 3,110 new homes and Tamarron plans for 8,259 dwellings in the same time frame. These new homes directly correlate to Katy’s increasing population. Esti- mates from the Katy Area Economic Development Council project the area’s population will increase from approximately 459,000 residents in 2022 to 491,000 residents by 2027. Proximity to Katy ISD, multiple ame- nities, mobility options, more space and a better community feel are some of the reasons why people are moving to Katy, Fulshear and surrounding sub- urbs, said Rob Bamford, the general manager of the Cross Creek West and Cross Creek Ranch developments. “There are a lot of other states and cities that are envious of our current position,” Bamford said, citing local leadership as a contributing factor. “The city of Fulshear has a great mayor that has really turned the city into a thriving, future metropoli- tan area. The city of Katy has such a strong presence historically with growth with Katy ISD, which is a real powerful marketing element to this submarket as well.” Bamford said benets to the mas- ter-planned developments include all of these, plus an opportunity for buy- ers to build equity. “The whole master-planned com- munity concept is really a function of what the American dream is hypo- thetically considered to be, which is building wealth,” Bamford said. “[Master-planned communities give] the buyers an opportunity to build wealth in their homes and their real estate investments.”

FREEMAN RD.

In an eort to outpace growth, Katy and Fulshear have many master-planned communities being built out. Tamarron, Cross Creek West and Sunterra project the most new units between 2021-31.

MORTON RD.

Currently occupied homes

Projected new housing between 2021-31

FRANZ RD.

Cross Creek West* 1 3,110

TEXAS HERITAGE PKWY.

Sunterra 2

172

4,007

+2,229.65%

KATY FLEWELLEN RD.

1093

Tamarron 3

SOURCES: POPULATION AND SURVEY ANALYSTS DATA, TIM JOHNSON, ROB BAMFORDCOMMUNITY IMPACT NEWSPAPER *THIS COMMUNITY BEGAN SELLING HOMES IN LATE JUNE. AS OF MIDJULY, IT DID NOT HAVE ANY RESIDENTS YET.

2,852

8,259

+189.59%

properties that are professionally managed—are on the rise across the Houston area. Through a partner- ship between the developer behind Sunterra—Land Tejas—and ONM Liv- ing, construction on 114 single-family rentals will begin in August, said Pres- ident of ONM Living Zac Thompson. The community, dubbed the Villas at Sunterra, is expected by fully occu- pied by spring 2024, he said. Wauhob said these build-to-rent properties further decrease inventory for rst-time homebuyers looking to purchase. “As far as home ownership, obvi- ously if investors are investing in these build-to-rent neighborhoods, that means they’re taking up con- struction crews and supplies and things like that, which we could cer- tainly use to go towards building new homes for people for purchase,” she said. “It is kind of a newer phenome- non with these institutional investors buying large amounts of homes, but we’re going to have to watch and see

Sunterra developer Land Tejas. Nationwide numbers paint a big- ger picture of the challenges faced by the homebuilding industry. Accord- ing to Freddie Mac, there were 1.64 million new homes under construc- tion nationwide in April, the highest on record. Locally, in eight counties across the Houston metro, including Fort Bend and Harris counties, that gure is about 21,000 as of June 15, said Law- rence Dean, senior vice president of advisory at real estate research rm Zonda. This is the most new homes under construction the company has ever seen, he said. “Across the last year and a half, it’s taken homebuilders longer to build due to labor constraints but even more so constraints on building mate- rials,” Dean said. Sunterra plans to build 4,007 sin- gle-family homes between 2021-31, according to February projections from demographer rm Population and Survey Analysts. Meanwhile,

how it plays out.” But some real estate experts and developers said they believe mas- ter-planned communities could be the key to increasing homeownership. Market eects The number of homes available at lower prices has greatly diminished, Blackburn said. According to price distribution data for the Katy area from the Texas Real Estate Research Center, 46.4% of homes in northern Katy, 17.9% of homes in southwest Katy and 10% of homes in southeast Katy were sold for between $200,000-$249,999 in 2020. In 2021, that dropped to 34%, 10.9% and 1.8%, respectively. Still, the housing demand remains strong across the board, and in sub- divisions such as Sunterra, home construction demand has posed a challenge for builders, who struggle to meet that need given continuous sup- ply chain interruptions, said Tim John- son, director of sales and marketing at

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KATY EDITION • JULY 2022