real estate news

Houston nails No. 1 ranking for new construction homes sold in U.S.

Houston sold more than 1,700 new construction homes in March.

The Lone Star State is holding on to its reputation as one of the hottest moving destinations, and a new report shows four Texas metro areas have sold the most new construction homes in the country, with Houston outshining them all.

Houston sold the most new construction homes nationwide in March 2024, according to SmartAsset's recently published report, "Where the Most New Construction Homes Are Being Added – 2024 Study." The metro area claimed the No. 1 spot out of 153 U.S. cities ranked based on Zillow's real estate data from March and April.

A total of 1,751 new build homes were sold in the Houston area in March, for a median sale price of $347,990. The metro's median price point for newly constructed homes is about $30,000 more than the median price for all Houston homes sold in April, which came out to $318,104.

New construction home prices seem high for Houston, but things could be much worse. San Jose, California (which ranked No. 132) only sold 41 newly built homes in March, but they sold for a median sale price of $1.734 million.

While inflation jumped by nearly 23 percent from spring 2019 to spring 2024, SmartAsset says housing prices skyrocketed even more during the same time period to 49.4 percent on average. The report indicates these daunting figures aren't having an optimistic effect on potential buyers.

"Housing costs are often the largest budget item for Americans and this could make home ownership feel out of reach for many," the report's author wrote. "But adding new housing can help relieve price pressures in undersupplied metro areas."

Dallas was right behind Houston in the national standings with 1,574 new construction homes sold in March 2024. But the median sale price for these new homes in the North Texas metro was much higher than Houston's, at $414,950, which is nearly $36,000 higher than the median price for all homes sold during the following month.

Other Texas cities that helped secure the state's dominance in the top 10 include San Antonio (No. 5) and Austin (No. 7). Only 777 new construction homes were sold in the Alamo City in March, with a median sale price of $310,446, which is the most affordable price out of all Texas cities in the top 10. In Austin, 750 new build homes were sold in March, for a median price of $434,900.

The top 10 U.S. metros with the most new construction homes being sold are:

No. 1 – Houston, Texas
No. 2 – Dallas, Texas
No. 3 – Atlanta, Georgia
No. 4 – Phoenix, Arizona
No. 5 – San Antonio, Texas
No. 6 – Charlotte, North Carolina
No. 7 – Austin, Texas
No. 8 – Nashville, Tennessee
No. 9 – Tampa, Florida
No. 10 – Raleigh, North Carolina

Real estate data for all 153 U.S. cities mentioned in the report – including new construction sales count, median sales prices, median sale price per square foot, and median price for all homes (as of April 2024) — was sourced from Zillow based on all single-family homes and condos.

The full report can be found on smartasset.com.

houston dallas austin san antonio smartasset reports rankings real estate

in demand

Houston leads the U.S. with the biggest surge in millionaire renters

IdeasLaboratory.com

undefined

The number of millionaire renters and homeowners in the U.S. has surged over the last five years, and Houston has soared ahead of the rest of the country with the largest growth rate among these affluent renter households.

Houston leads the nation with the No. 1 increase in millionaire renters from 2020 to 2024, a new RentCafe study found. The number of these wealthy households increased from 18 to 232 over the last five years, representing an impressive 1,189 percent growth rate.

"The pandemic accelerated the shift as remote work pushed the wealthy to relocate to lower-tax metros like Houston, where millionaire renters grew 13-fold, versus 3.9-fold for owners," the report said. "Granted, 232 households is still a tiny fraction of the Houston metro’s roughly 2.7 million households, but the growth rate far outpaces any other major metro."

Nationwide, the number of millionaire renter households grew 229 percent from 2020 to 2024, far outpacing the 193 percent growth rate among millionaire homeowners.

Dallas was the only other Texas metro to crack the top 10. The number of millionaire renter households in North Texas has more than quintupled, from just 30 in 2020 to 165 in 2024. That represents a renter growth rate of 450 percent, which — surprisingly — is only the 8th highest nationwide.

But when it comes to the largest populations of millionaire renters, New York City and San Francisco still lead the way. New York claimed the No. 1 spot with nearly 7,300 millionaire renters living in the city in 2024. Houston ranked 12th on that list.

Elsewhere in Texas, Austin and Dallas ranked as the 16th and 17th, respectively, for the largest population of millionaire renters. There were 206 millionaire renters living in Austin in 2024, and 165 in Dallas.

This is who the typical millionaire renter is
The report also revealed a surprising statistic about the typical millionaire renter in the U.S. — a lot of them are millennials working in "white-collar, high-earning fields."

"Nearly half (49 percent) of millionaire renters are Millennials, and the number of affluent Millennial renter households surged 392 percent during the five-year period," the report said. "Gen X follows with 33 percent of millionaire Gen X households renting after increasing by 147 percent."

The report continued, "Although Gen Z still represents a small share of millionaire renters (just 2 percent of the total), no generation has expanded faster: Gen Z millionaire renter households leaped from fewer than a dozen to more than 400 — a tiny cohort today, but one that was virtually nonexistent five years ago."

The top three most common professions for millionaire renters are chief executives, software developers, and managers, the report additionally found. In Houston, the surge of wealthy newcomers are mostly executives, professional athletes, and entertainers.

"These roles tend to generate steady, substantial income without necessarily tying workers to one location, making renting a practical fit, rather than a financial necessity," the report said.

Hotspots for millionaire homeowners
In RentCafe's separate list comparing the top 10 most popular U.S. metros for millionaire homeowners, Houston ranked 12th nationally with 4,374 millioniare homeowners living in the metro as of 2024. These wealthy Houstonians are most likely working as chief executives, physicians, managers, and lawyers and judges.

Houston has already proven to be a hotspot for millennial homebuyers, and the latest RentCafe data says millennials make up 19 percent of all millionaire homeowners in the U.S. Gen Xers and Baby Boomers still maintain the largest shares of millionaire homeowners nationwide, at 45 and 33 percent, respectively.

Dallas (No. 10) and Austin (No. 20) also appeared among the hottest metros for millionaire homeowners.

Only one Texas city appeared among RentCafe's list of the 20 fastest-growing metros for millionaire homeowners: College Station ranked 13th nationwide with a growth rate of 1,329 percent. From 2020-2024, the number of millionaire homeowners residing in College Station grew from 14 to 200.

millionaire renters millionaires rentcafe study rent anderson