One Study Shows Texas Has the Five Hottest Markets for New Development Within the Last Decade

A new report has discovered that Texas cities hold the top five most active real estate markets for new development in the country, with Austin landing in third place. The study by storage marketplace StorageCafe reflects the city's resiliency over the last decade after a recent reported plummet in Austin's quality of life. Austin had the third highest number of single-family home permits between 2013 and 2022, totaling 37,000 units. At the same time, the city also permitted over 98,700 new multi-family/apartment units. The massive influx of housing ultimately adds up to an impressive national surge.

On the industrial end, the Texas Capital also took the No. 3 spot in the country for the most square feet of new industrial space construction. Nearly 25 million square feet of new office space was erected in the last decade, further solidifying the city's standing as a top destination for business. Outshining Austin in the list of real estate growth is Houston (No. 1), with 55,600 single-family homes permitted between 2013 and 2022, and nearly 90,000 multi-family units. San Antonio (No. 2) also outranked Austin with 34,000 single-family units and 8,500 new multi-family units.

Long touted as a prime moving destination for Americans, particularly for those leaving the expensive West Coast, Houston, TX, has amped up its game to live up to the expectations. Space City’s real estate market is firing on all cylinders, pushing it ahead of every other major city across the U.S. in terms of inventory expansions. Supported by consistent demand coming from the huge influx of newcomers, a diversifying economy and a very strong job market, both residential and commercial construction are thriving.

The city of Houston registered the largest number of single family homes being permitted from 2013 to 2022, around 55,600 units, with 2021 and 2022 the best years of the decade for residential construction. Permits for almost 90K new apartments have been issued in Houston during the same timeframe.

The local self storage sector also experienced an impressive surge in new construction, answering the complex storage needs of Houston residents. About 5.7M square feet of storage space was added to the local inventory over the past ten years, with 2018 alone seeing a whopping 2.1M square feet of new space. Houston ranks first nationally for industrial construction as well, with almost 66M square feet of new industrial space erected over the past decade, and second for office space construction, seeing 27M square feet of new office space.

San Antonio, TX, scores the number two spot in our ranking, propelled by its lively industrial, single family and self storage construction sectors. Benefitting from an innovative economy that revolves around healthcare, tech and tourism, but also rooted in manufacturing and international trade, San Antonio added over 22.6M square feet of industrial space, 5.7M square feet of office space and 9.3 square feet of retail space over the past 10 years.

Local residential construction is aimed at responding to the steady inflow of new residents, with 34K single family homes and over 38K multifamily units permitted from 2013 to 2022. The best year for single family construction in San Antonio was 2021, seeing over 6,500 permits issued, while multifamily construction boomed last year, with nearly 9,500 units on the drawing board.

Austin, TX, was third nationally in terms of real estate development from 2013 to 2022. The tech-oriented city, which saw a host of companies and busy professionals relocating here over the past 10 years, had a particularly impressive apartment construction evolution. Almost 99K building permits for multifamily units were issued over the past decade in Austin, with only the likes of New York City and Los Angeles surpassing it. The best year of the decade for multifamily construction was 2022, when over 15K permits were registered. About 37K single family homes were also permitted over the past 10 years.

Self storage construction followed suit in Austin and added almost 4.3M square feet of space. Office construction mimicked the city’s economic growth and the city saw the addition of 25M square feet of new office space to its inventory between 2013 and 2022.

Fort Worth, TX, landing fourth in the ranking, narrowly outperformed neighboring Dallas in real estate development. Fort Worth saw its population increase by around 25% over the past decade, which propelled residential construction in the area – the city registered an impressive 50K building permits for single family homes over the past decade, second only to Houston. During the same time, almost 37K new apartments were also permitted in Fort Worth, as well as 3.2M sq. ft. of self storage space.

With an economy anchored by several key industries, including defense, energy, logistics, aviation and aerospace, Fort Worth also added significant amounts of commercial real estate: over 58.5M square feet of industrial space and 6.6M square feet of retail space.

Dallas, TX, completes the set of Texan cities that saw remarkable real estate development over the past decade. Big D recorded the most spectacular advances in industrial construction, with over 31M square feet of new space delivered from 2013 to 2022.

But multifamily is also shining in Dallas. The city experienced significant growth in its technology and startup sectors, with a number of innovative companies establishing headquarters or offices in the area, which in turn attracted young, skilled workers. This reverberated, as expected, in the residential sector, and almost 69K new apartments were permitted in Dallas over the past decade.

The real estate markets in Fort Worth and Dallas respectively round out the top five.

The cities that complete the top 10 include:

No. 6 – Phoenix, Arizona

No. 7 – Jacksonville, Florida

No. 8 – Las Vegas, Nevada

No. 9 – Denver, Colorado

No. 10 – Oklahoma City, Oklahoma