Report: Houston Leads Nation in New Building Permits

Report: Houston Leads Nation in New Building Permits

This newly constructed River Oaks home on Del Monte, which sold last month for $5.8 million, was one of nearly 50,000 homes permitted for construction in the Houston area in 2020, the most of any metro region in the country, per new data.

AS IF ANY more evidence were needed that the city's real estate market is on fire, Houston leads the nation in permits for building new homes. This is according to new research from a leading property search company.


Analyzing recently released data from the U.S. Census Bureau, NeighborWho says there were 49,915 permits issued in 2020 for new homes the Houston metro area, which also includes The Woodlands and Sugar Land. That represents an increase of 26.3 percent over 2019.

"The increase in single-family building permits in Houston indicates a need for more homes," said a NeighborWho rep, who adds that an increasing number of Houstonians is financially prepared to buy homes.

The Dallas metro was second on the list with 44,005 such permits, a 25.9 percent spike over the 2019. The Austin metro also made the top 10, with 22,570 permits, for an increase of 22.5 percent over the previous year.

Beyond the Lone Star State, Phoenix posted impressive gains. Their were 31,658 permits in the metro, for a jump of 26.5 percent over 2019's stats.

While Houston and other Texas cities appear to be exceptional, the home building boom is nationwide. "While the pandemic hit a number of industries hard in 2020, new housing starts for single-family homes increased nearly 14 percent compared to 2019, adding almost 1 million new homes to the U.S. market," said NeighborWho.

Other cities posting big numbers of new permits including Atlanta, Charlotte, Tampa, Nashville, Orlando and Washington D.C.

Home + Real Estate
Top Attorney Lauren Varnado Says Networking Is Key: ‘Relationships Are Everything’
How did you get to where you are today? It takes a village. I was fortunate enough to have great mentors and individuals who instilled confidence in me. I think that when you face a challenge or an obstacle, you are able to overcome and make things happen. You can continue moving forward, more resilient over time.
Keep Reading Show less

'Is that how you treat your house guest'

ARTIST KAIMA MARIE’S solo exhibit For the record (which opens today at Art Is Bond) invites the viewer into a multiverse of beloved Houston landmarks, presented in dizzying Cubist perspectives. There are ornate interior spaces filled with paintings, books and records — all stuff we use to document and preserve personal, family and collective histories; and human figures, including members of Marie’s family, whose presence adds yet another quizzical layer to these already densely packed works. This isn’t art you look at for 15-30 seconds before moving on to the next piece; there’s a real pleasure in being pulled into these large-scale photo collages, which Marie describes as “puzzles without a reference image.”

Keep Reading Show less
Art + Entertainment

Beetlejuice Goes Hawaiian cocktail

SPOOKY SEASON IS starting early this year with the release of the Beetlejuice sequel in theaters on Friday. Houston cocktail bar and pizza joint Betelgeuse Betelgeuse is celebrating the film with two weekends of events and specials.

Keep Reading Show less
Food