REAL BIG NEWS

Houston booms as No. 1 city in U.S. for new home construction in 2023

Three major Texas metro areas have the highest new home construction rates in the nation, with Houston right at the top.

Photo by Josh Olalde on Unsplash

While Houston already holds the crown for the most active real estate market over the last decade, the city has now earned the title for the highest new home construction rate in 2023, according to a recent analysis by Chamber of Commerce.

The booming housing construction is just one way Houston is trying to keep up with it's remarkable population growth.

The June edition of the "Cities with the Most New Homes" analysis discovered that despite new home permits being down over 20 percent year-over-year from 2022, Houston's housing market is still on the rise.

"Numerous factors such as limited inventory in the existing home market, high mortgage rates, and supply chain issues have created a bottleneck for new home construction," the report's authors said. "It remains to be seen whether new home construction will catch up with the current demand, but it’s clear that some cities are experiencing a building boom when it comes to new homes."

Over 23,000 new home construction permits were issued for the city thus far, consisting of both single- and multi-family residential homes. H-Town also ranks at the top with just under 15,400 single-family home permits issued this year.

In the ranking of multi-unit residential homes, only 7,671 permits have been issued in the same time frame, knocking Houston down to No. 3. New York City (No. 1) and Dallas-Fort Worth (No. 2) had higher multi-family construction permits issued, at 10,155 and 7,887 each, respectively.

On average, 5,766 Houston home permits are being issued every month in 2023, which is also the highest rate in the nation. In layman's terms, our real estate market is definitely pretty hot.

The top 10 metro areas that have the highest new home construction in 2023 are:

No.1 – Houston
No. 2 – Dallas-Fort Worth
No. 3 – New York City
No. 4 – Phoenix
No. 5 – Atlanta
No. 6 – Charlotte, North Carolina
No. 7 – Austin
No. 8 – Orlando
No. 9 – Nashville
No. 10 – Los Angeles

The study analyzed data from the U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development to determine the total number of new home construction permits issued in 2023 throughout 225 metro areas in the country.

The full report and its methodology can be found on chamberofcommerce.org.

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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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