WASHINGTON, D.C. (The Atlantic, NAHB) – Talk about raising the roof.
According to the latest Census data, Texas gets credit for 20 percent of the increase in new homes built in the United States between April 1, 2010, and July 1, 2011.
Nationally, the number of new homes built during that period increased by 607,000. Texas accounted for 121,000 of those. That’s three times as many as California, which came in second in the number of new homes built.
And that’s not all.
The Atlantic reported that one-fifth of the 100 counties with the highest rate of growth in new housing are in Texas. Among those are Fort Bend, Rockwall, Hays, Wilson, Guadalupe, Williamson, Blanco and Parker, all of which landed in the top 25 in terms of growth rate.
In raw numbers, the top five biggest gainers were Texas counties, led by Fort Bend with 11,665 new homes added, bringing its total to an estimated 208,696 — a 5.9 percent growth rate.
Meanwhile, five Texas metros were added to the National Association of Home Builders/First American’s Improving Markets Index (IMI) for June.
New to the list were Austin, Dallas, San Antonio, Texarkana and Wichita Falls, which joined seven other Texas metros on the list. Those cities were Brownsville, Laredo, McAllen, Midland, Odessa, San Angelo and Victoria.
Four cities — Amarillo, Longview, Lubbock and Tyler — were dropped from the June list.
The index identifies areas showing growth in housing permits, prices and employment for six consecutive months.
