a league apart

Houston tops the charts for 3rd most new apartments built in U.S. since 2020

Luxe apartments like the Novel River Oaks are big draws for renters.

Shiny new apartment complexes are popping up everywhere around the country, but no more than two cities can claim quite as many as Houston.

The Houston metro area, in fact, has had the third most new apartments constructed since the beginning of the "pandemic building boom" in 2020 in the U.S., according to a new study by apartment rental marketplace RentCafe.

Third highest construction rate from 2020 to 2022
The construction analysis revealed 53,741 new apartment units opened in Houston between 2020 and 2022. Houston's numbers far outshine one of the biggest renter metros in the state – Austin (No. 4) – by nearly 8,700 units.

"The metro is also home to several major companies such as ExxonMobil and Chevron — both of which expanded their presence in the area during those three years — that attract a large number of workers, further supporting demand for rental apartments," the report's author said.

Broken down by city, Houston constructed 28,423 new apartment units between 2020 and 2022, while Katy built the second highest number of new apartments: 4,859. Spring built 3,878 new units within the same time frame, and Richmond made up 2,324 new apartment units.

The only two cities to outrank Houston are New York (No. 2) and Dallas (No. 3), which developed a whopping 66,070 and 76,660 new apartment units, respectively, within the same time period. Austin and Miami round out the top five with 45,051 and 42,960 new units built between 2020 and 2022.

The remaining top 10 metros that completed the most new apartments between 2020 and 2022 are:

No. 6 – Washington, D.C. (42,723 units)
No. 7 – Los Angeles (39,842 units)
No. 8 – Atlanta (39,467 units)
No. 9 – Seattle (36,952 units)
No. 10 – Twin Cities, Minnesota (31,662 units)

New apartments to meet rising demand in 2023
Houston may have topped the charts for new apartments built during the pandemic, but it slipped out of the top five in the analysis of projected completed units in 2023. The study found that developers are set to build 13,637 new rental units by the end of December, which is 19,364 fewer than New York, which claimed the No. 1 spot in 2023.

The report commented that Houston's "slower" apartment growth earned it No. 8 in the ranking of the overall top 20 U.S. metros for construction in 2023. But the city's focus is not necessarily on building apartments.

"[The Houston] metro (along with Dallas, Austin and San Antonio) is keen on building single-family rentals to meet the needs of those who are not yet ready to become homeowners," the report said.

The top 10 metros predicted to build the most new apartments in 2023 are:

No. 1 – New York City (33,001 units)
No. 2 – Dallas (23,659 units)
No. 3 – Austin (23,434 units)
No. 4 – Miami (20,904 units)
No. 5 – Atlanta (18,408 units)
No. 6 – Phoenix (14,629 units)
No. 7 – Los Angeles (14,087 units)
No. 8 – Houston (13,637 units)
No. 9 – Washington, D.C. (13,189 units)
No. 10 – Denver (12,581 units)

The full report can be found on rentcafe.com.

apartments housing reports houston

housing boom

Houston booms as No. 2 market for new home construction in the U.S.

New residential construction home framing against a blue sky

Getty Images

Dallas has the highest concentration of new home development in the nation.

Houston's real estate market is getting hotter and hotter: A new housing report from ConsumerAffairs has revealed Houston is home to the second-highest concentration of new home development in the nation. Over 9,000 new residential building permits were issued citywide in the first two months of 2026 alone.

The research team at ConsumerAffairs analyzed data on new building permits and new construction home sales across 150 of the largest U.S. metropolitan areas in January and February of 2026. Cities were scored using two equally weighted metrics: total new residential building permits (sourced from the U.S. Census Bureau’s Building Permits Survey) and total new construction home sales (sourced from Zillow) during the two-month period.

Texas is home to four of the top 10 cities with the highest rates of new home construction, and Dallas booted Houston from the top spot down to No. 2, with Austin (No. 7) moving up the ladder and San Antonio slipping into 10th place.

The report found 9,239 new building permits were issued and 3,535 new construction homes were sold across January and February in Houston. Only New York City and Dallas have issued more permits than Houston, but the city still holds the top spot for the highest number of new-build homes sold during the two-month stretch.

The Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands metro additionally ranks No. 2 for new home construction in a separate ranking across the biggest U.S. metros. Nearly 66,000 new residential units — single-family homes, apartments, and condos — were authorized in the greater Houston area in 2024.

Dallas overtakes Houston for the most new home construction
Dallas led the nation with the highest concentration of new home construction, the report found. Over 11,000 new building permits have been issued in Dallas during the first two months of 2026, and 3,009 newly built homes were sold during the same period.

ConsumerAffairs said Dallas City Council has spent the last year making changes to residential housing codes to fight the city's housing shortage, thus driving the boom in new housing development.

"Previously, buildings with more than two residential housing units had to comply with the International Building Code, adding obstacles and costs for developers," the report said. "The revised code allows buildings with up to eight units to be constructed with looser regulations."

The top 10 U.S. cities building the most new homes in 2026 are:

No. 1 – Dallas
No. 2 – Houston
No. 3 – New York City
No. 4 – Phoenix
No. 5 – Atlanta
No. 6 – Los Angeles
No. 7 – Austin
No. 8 – Washington, D.C.
No. 9 – Charlotte, North Carolina
No. 10 – San Antonio

real estate housing market housing construction reports