Report: DFW new home supply at 20-year low
Even as Dallas-Fort Worth builders remain busy building new homes for a surging residential market, the finished inventory of vacant homes in North Texas sits at a 20-year low.
"The low lot inventory is continuing to push lot prices in the high demand locations," said David Brown, regional director of Metrostudy, a Hanley Wood company, which released its third-quarter housing report for 2013 on Wednesday.
"If lot deliveries do not accelerate in the top submarkets during the last quarter and first half of next year, the growth in starts may begin to slow more due to supply constraints," he said.
This year, builders are expected to build 22,000 new homes, which is the most new home starts since 2007.
Even as DFW builders started 19 percent more
homes in the third quarter 2013 compared with the previous year, there were 5 percent fewer finished new-homes in the inventory in North Texas, according to the Metrostudy report.
That low inventory (a 1.5-month supply of homes) will likely lead to higher prices for homes into next year's spring selling season, Brown said.
Builders have started 19 percent more homes in the third quarter of 2013 compared with the previous year.
"Although we expect new home starts to continue to grow rapidly over the next two years, the growth rate is likely to moderate in the last quarter of 2013 and 2014," Brown said.
Candace Carlisle
Staff Writer- Dallas Business Journal
November 2013 / Issue 01
1
Dallas Economics