Houston is accommodating its housing wants by constructing extra houses than every other U.S. metropolis, a brand new report has discovered.
In line with a brand new ConsumerAffairs housing report, Houston has the No. 1 highest charge of latest house development within the nation for 2025. The analysis platform analyzed new constructing permits and new development house gross sales from January and February 2025 within the 150 largest U.S. cities.
Houston dominates all different housing markets with the best progress charge in new constructing permits, totaling greater than 11,000 permits in the course of the first two months of the yr. The town additionally leads with the best charge of latest development houses bought throughout the identical time interval, with greater than 1,300 gross sales.
ConsumerAffairs says Houston is the one main U.S. metro that does not implement zoning legal guidelines, which means housing density just isn’t immediately regulated and communities do not should be separated by “use sort.” Many guidelines which are in place are in favor of excessive density housing, the report added.
“The absence of those legal guidelines has contributed to Houston’s notorious sprawl, however it’s a boon for builders and homebuilders, who’ve far fewer restrictions to navigate when establishing new houses,” the report mentioned. “After 1998 reforms to the town’s improvement ordinance lowered the minimal lot dimension for single-family houses from 5,000 to 1,400 sq. ft, greater than 25,000 new houses have been developed on these new, smaller tons between 1999 and 2016.”
The town is retaining tempo with shopper tendencies: In line with current research by the Nationwide Affiliation of Residence Builders, greater than three in 5 homebuyers would favor to buy a new-construction house over an present one, the ConsumerAffairs report says.
Elsewhere in Texas
Dallas adopted intently behind Houston with the second-highest charge of latest house development nationwide. The metro issued over 9,800 constructing permits in January and February, and 741 newly constructed houses have been bought throughout that point.
San Antonio (No. 8) and Austin (No. 9) additionally earned spots among the many high 10. ConsumerAffairs mentioned the rise of synthetic intelligence is taking part in a key function in fast-tracking improvement alternatives within the state capital.
“After a 2022 audit discovered that it took a median of 345 days — greater than 11 months — to evaluation a constructing software, the town started a pilot program utilizing AI to evaluation constructing plans and flag them for inconsistencies between development purposes and Austin’s constructing guidelines,” the report’s writer wrote.
Austin could also be one of many unique pioneers to implement the know-how, and it seems different main cities are following within the Texas Capital’s footsteps. After a number of wildfires devastated Southern California in January 2025, the town and county of Los Angeles launched a brand new program utilizing AI to assist rebuild housing within the metro space.
The highest 10 cities with the best charges of latest house development within the U.S. are:
- No. 1 – Houston, Texas
- No. 2 – Dallas, Texas
- No. 3 – Phoenix, Arizona
- No. 4 – Atlanta, Georgia
- No. 5 – New York, New York
- No. 6 – Charlotte, North Carolina
- No. 7 – Orlando, Florida
- No. 8 – San Antonio, Texas
- No. 9 – Austin, Texas
- No. 10 – Tampa, Florida
