apartment building boom

Houston ranks 3rd on new list of U.S. cities building the most apartments

As long as the people keep moving, Houston will keep building.

It seems that Houston will keep building as long as the people keep moving here. An analysis of new apartment construction finds that Houston has the No. 3 highest apartment construction rate out of all U.S. cities this year, and it ranks 8th out of all U.S. metropolitan areas.

RentCafe's report, "New Apartment Construction Tops 500K Units This Year, More Than Half in 1 Region" examined apartment building data across 369 U.S. metro areas, specifically buildings containing 50 or more units.

More than 500,000 apartments are in development throughout the country this year, the report found, though that's significantly lower than the 640,000-plus units that were completed nationwide by the end of 2024.

According to RentCafe's findings, 7,770 new apartments are expected to be built in Houston from the beginning of the year to the end of December 2025. That's only 389 fewer units than what the city was building in 2024, though the slower development isn't stopping Houston's ever-growing population.

The report says more than half of all incoming apartments in 2025 are being built in the South, where five major Texas cities are leading the building boom: Austin (No. 1), Houston (No. 3), San Antonio (No. 7), Dallas (No. 9), and Fort Worth (No. 20).

RentCafe attributes Texas' apartment building boom to the state's reputation as a "migration magnet" with excellent job and economic growth rates.

"Southern metros typically offer streamlined approval processes and fewer regulatory hurdles, making it easier to bring multifamily projects to market," said Yardi Matrix senior analyst and manager of business intelligence Doug Ressler. "At the same time, elevated home prices and a shortage of attainable for-sale housing are pushing more residents toward rentals. For many households, single-family (housing) ownership is simply out of reach — fueling demand for rental housing."

Where Houston lands among the top 20 U.S. metros for apartment construction
A separate RentCafe ranking of the top 20 U.S. metropolitan areas (not cities) building the most new apartments in 2025 places New York, Dallas-Fort Worth, and Austin among the top three, leaving Houston behind as No. 8.

Overall, Houston and its surrounding suburbs are expected to complete 14,439 apartments by the end of this year, the report found. Houston proper is producing a majority of those finished apartments, while Cypress has the second-highest rate of new apartment construction in the metro with 1,343 units expected to be developed by the end of 2025.

Here's how many new apartments other Houston-area cities plan to complete by the end of 2025:

Spring – 1,109 units
Humble – 792 units
Katy –629 units

Elsewhere in Texas, Dallas-Fort Worth has the second-highest number of new units being built in the U.S. this year, totaling 28,958 apartments. However, RentCafe says that's a 22.4 percent drop in completed apartments as compared to 2024.

"Even with this slowdown, the Metroplex remains one of the top places in the country for new apartment completions," the report's author wrote. "As such, this dip in construction may just be the market taking a breather after a period of intense growth. But, with so many people still moving to the area, the demand for housing remains high."

The top 20 U.S. metro areas building the most new apartments in 2025 are:

No. 1 – New York, New York
No. 2 – Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas
No. 3 – Austin, Texas
No. 4 – Phoenix, Arizona
No. 5 –Atlanta, Georgia
No. 6 – Charlotte, North Carolina
No. 8 – Houston, Texas
No. 9 – Washington, D.C.
No. 10 – Denver, Colorado

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hottest headlines of 2025

Here are the 10 hottest Houston real estate headlines of 2025

Photo courtesy of NewQuest

The new Texas Heritage Marketplace will be located along Interstate 10 and the newly completed Texas Heritage Parkway in Katy.

Editor's note: The top real estate stories of 2025 were heavy on buzzy suburbs. Fulshear earned special recognition for its jaw-dropping population growth over the last five and 10 years, while Sugar Land entered the spotlight for its livability and its surprisingly high rental rates. A Houston billionaire was revealed to be one of the top 100 landowners in the country, and a local restaurant duo put their illustrious farm on the market. Read on for the top 10 real estate stories of 2025.

1. Totally sweet Houston suburb triumphs as No. 3 best place to live in U.S. Relocation marketing platform Livability.com named Sugar Land the third-best place to live in America thanks to its appealing size and affordability. The list was restricted to small and mid-size cities with populations between 75,000-500,000 residents.

2. Surprise Houston neighbor was No. 1 fastest-growing U.S. city in the last decade. Fulshear's population growth surged over 1,000 percent from 2014-2023, the report found, and the U.S Census estimates the city now boasts a population of more than 42,600 residents. More on Fulshear's booming population later.

3. Houston oil-and-gas billionaire ranks among America's top 100 landowners. The Land Report revealed that approximately one-quarter of the country's mega-owners of private land have ties to Texas.

4. 2 Houston suburbs rank among fastest-growing affordable cities in U.S. SmartAsset analyzed 50 U.S. cities to find the most affordable places with large population growth. League City and Pearland ranked No. 7 and No. 11, respectively.

5. Cozy Houston neighborhood ranked No. 1 best place to live in Texas. Master-planned community Cinco Ranch was given an"A-plus" rating for its family-friendliness, public schools, diversity, and other factors. The area is able to maintain a close-knit community while having a sprawling population of more than 19,000 residents.

6. Houston developer breaks ground on $400 million, 165 acre Katy project. Houston-based commercial real estate firm NewQuest commenced work on a $400 million, 165-acre, mixed-use shopping center in Waller County at the end of January. The project, called The Texas Heritage Marketplace, will include 750,000 square feet of retail and restaurants, along with 550 apartments in two communities.

7. This wealthy Houston neighbor is the fastest-growing suburb in America. In a narrowed-down analysis of the top American suburbs that have had the highest population increases from 2018-2023, Fulshear once again came out on top.

8. 2 Houston-area ZIP codes top 2024 list of hottest U.S. housing markets. Real estate marketplace Opendoor crowned Katy's 77493 ZIP code as the No. 1 hottest U.S. housing market in 2024, while Cypress' 77433 ZIP secured the No. 2 spot. Affordability was cited as the primary factor that drew newcomers to these suburbs.

9. Houston restaurateurs' 353-acre farm hits the market for $29 million. The sprawling Goodthyme Ranch, owned by Goodnight Hospitality partners Bailey and Pete McCarthy, went on the market in early September. The farm is situated about an hour from downtown Houston in Bellville, and offers a 5,220-square-foot, five-bedroom main house and a 4,560-square-foot, five-bedroom guest house, as well as extensive agricultural and recreational amenities.

10. This Houston suburb had the highest apartment rent prices in June. Zumper's monthly rental report found Sugar Land apartment prices were more expensive than any other Houston-area city over the summer. Despite having the most expensive rent in the metro in June, the asking rent for a single-bedroom apartment in Sugar Land was technically lower than it was in June 2024.

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