DALLAS (Dallas Morning News) – Even with new home sales in North Texas continuing to slow, cutbacks in new home construction over the past couple of years could result in a new-home shortage come 2010.
Builders have sold almost 13,000 more houses than they have started over the last two years, causing inventory to drop below 5,000 units, which is about a three-month supply. Compare that with the more than seven-month supply of new homes for sale in the United States as a whole.
“For homebuilders to maintain their current sales pace, they are going to have to start 30 or maybe 40 percent more homes than they are starting today,” said David Brown, who heads the Dallas office of real estate analysis firm Metrostudy Inc.
Dr. Jim Gaines, research economist with the Real Estate Center at Texas A&M University, said he thinks prospects for builders to get funding for new-home construction are “severely limited, bordering on nonexistent.
“Some of the local regional banks that don’t have significant existing exposure may be willing,” Gaines said, “but what we’re hearing is that most of the major institutions don’t want to do anything.”
Sales of new homes in the DFW area fell 34 percent between third quarter 2008 and the same period in 2009, with 4,163 transactions, housing analyst firm Residential Strategies reported Wednesday.
North Texas Housing Shortage in 2010?
