BY KELLY SCHAFLER CONTRIBUTIONS BY HANNAH NORTON & AUBREY VOGEL
Looking ahead
Zooming in
Zooming out
Texas could make it easier to build homes in commercial areas and reduce the minimum lot size for single-family residences, said Nicole Nosek, the founder of Texans for Reasonable Solutions, an organization that aims to solve the housing shortage. Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who oversees the Senate, and House Speaker Dade Phelan directed lawmakers to look into potential zoning changes for the 89th Legislature. Meanwhile, the Federal Reserve has cut its federal funds rate, the amount it charges banks, .75 percentage points since September. Dean said this could encourage more home construction, as builders and developers can finance projects for less. It could also influence lower mortgage rates, which would push more homebuyers into the market. However, homebuilders adding more new inventory is the most significant way to address home affordability, he said.
Texas’ population growth has outpaced home- building since 2020, resulting in a widespread housing shortage, per the State Comptroller’s Office. “So it’s not that people aren’t trying to build [houses],” Will Counihan, who leads the comptrol- ler’s data analysis and transparency department, said at an Aug. 27 event. “[They’re] perhaps not building the right types of houses, specifically housing for low- and middle-income Texans.”
More housing inventory could aid in balancing out housing prices, Dean said. About 4,000 more units are planned to join the 10,500-acre Sienna community by its 2032 build-out, said Alvin San Miguel, senior vice president of Johnson Development. The homes will start in the low $300,000s, with lot sizes beginning at 35 feet. Sienna’s new homes are coming in the southeast area of the master-planned com- munity, with 500-550 home sales yearly, San Miguel said. Meanwhile, PulteGroup will bring 2,650 single-family housing units to the city’s extraterritorial jurisdiction, with the city able to annex the property in the future. The first homes in the 960-acre Ryehill will come online in mid-2025, with an average of 400 homes completed each year, said Lindy Oliva, president of PulteGroup’s Houston Division.
Total homes needed to meet demand by metro Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington 109,721 Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land 61,971
San Antonio-New Braunfels 19,303 Austin-Round Rock-Georgetown 34,655
SOURCE: UP FOR GROWTH/COMMUNITY IMPACT
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SUGAR LAND - MISSOURI CITY EDITION
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