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 and Dallas outshining them all.
Dallas sold the second-highest number of 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. 2 spot out of 153 U.S. cities ranked based on Zillow's real estate data from March and April.
A total of 1,574 new build homes were sold in the Dallas area in March, for a median sale price of $414,950. The metro's median price point for newly constructed homes is about $36,000 more than the median price for all Dallas homes sold in April, which came out to $379,117.
New construction home prices seem high for Dallas, 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."
Houston barely edged above Dallas in the national standings with 1,751 new construction homes sold in March 2024. The median sale price for these new homes in the East Texas metro was far lower than Dallas', at $347,990, which is about $30,000 more than the median price for all homes sold in Houston 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.