Moving up and out

North Texas among top U.S. markets for home sales in master-planned communities

Buyers are flocking to Pecan Square in Northlake.

Dallas-Fort Worth is mastering the art of the master-planned community.

A report released January 4 by RCLCO Real Estate Advisors shows the DFW metro area was home to four of the 50 top-selling master-planned communities last year.

The four DFW communities on the list are:

Magnolia Point, Royse City, from D.R. Horton, ranked 20th (tied) with 660 homes sold (2020 data unavailable).
Pecan Square, Northlake, from Hillwood Communities, ranked No. 41 with 502 homes sold, (down 1 percent from 2020).
Heartland, Heartland (near Forney), from Huffines Communities, ranked No. 42 with 482 homes sold (2020 data unavailable).
Union Park, Little Elm, from Hillwood Communities, ranked No. 47 with 460 homes sold, (down 24 percent from 2020).

“The boom in work-from-home demand drove record master-planned community sales in 2021,” according to John Burns Real Estate Consulting.

Gregg Logan, managing director of RCLCO, says the survey results indicate demand for new single-family homes in master-planned communities remains high, “with favorable demographic tailwinds suggesting this strong demand will continue in 2022.”

However, lingering supply chain woes and the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic have hampered the ability of master-planned communities to capitalize on that demand, Logan adds.

“As these challenges are resolved in the coming months, we are optimistic for the success of master-planned communities in 2022,” he says.

Houston ranks first among all of the metro areas represented on the list. According to the survey, one-fifth of the country’s 50 top-selling master-planned communities last year are in the Houston metro area. Collectively, the 10 Houston-area communities in the top 50 sold 5,773 homes in 2021, according to RCLCO’s data.

In terms of the success of communities in the Houston area last year, Howard Hughes Corp.’s Bridgeland development in Cypress tops the list. According to the survey, Bridgeland sold 713 new homes last year, down 18 percent from 2020. The 713-home tally puts Bridgeland at No. 16 nationally for the most sales at master-planned communities last year.

The top-ranked master-planned community in Texas is Hunt Communities’ Mission Ridge development in El Paso. Last year, the community sold 811 new homes, good enough for a No. 10 ranking in the U.S. The sales figure for 2020 wasn’t available.

lists rankings home-for-sale

housing affordability news

Dallas named No. 2 Southern city where homes are becoming more affordable

TREC Dallas Facebook

undefined

A new real estate analysis has revealed housing prices across the Southern United States have seen a major large-scale decline from 2024-2025, with North Texas homebuyers experiencing the second-steepest "price correction" in the region.

Dallas-Fort Worth buyers have a better chance of purchasing an affordable home this year after prices cooled 5.71 percent from 2024-2025, the study found.

Online real estate marketplace Zoocasa compared year-over-year median price changes for single-family homes across 20 cities in the South based on local real estate data. The study also looked at housing affordability in the American West, Midwest, and Northeast.

In Zoocasa's ranking of the Southern cities where affordability is improving the most, Dallas ranked No. 2.

In 2024, the median price for a single-family home in Dallas was nearly $398,000, which has since dropped to $375,000 in 2025. North Texas sellers may not be happy about cooling prices, but it does make housing more attainable for first-time homebuyers.

Better housing prices will surely attract even more new residents to the DFW area, especially when one considers Dallas was the No. 1 destination for movers in 2025, and its suburbs are still booming in popularity.

"Affordability is on the rise across Texas, with major cities seeing significant price corrections," the report said. "Most importantly for buyers, the median home price in each of these cities remains more affordable than the national median."

The national median price of a home in the third quarter of 2025 was $426,800, according to the latest information from the National Association of Realtors (NAR).

Housing affordability elsewhere in Texas
In Beaumont-Port Arthur (a metro area east of Houston), housing prices have fallen 4.62 percent year-over-year, making it the metro with the No. 5 steepest price correction in the South. Median home prices dropped to $217,000 in 2025, or $10,500 lower than the year before, the report found.

Austin's housing prices fell 2.04 percent during the same time span, landing the Capital City in the No. 9 spot. The median price of a single-family home in Austin fell from $437,925 in 2024 to $429,000 last year.

Houston appeared just outside the top 10, ranking 11th out of 20 Southern cities, with housing prices falling by 1.5 percent during the one-year period. Houston housing prices in 2025 fell to $335,000, or $5,000 lower than the year before.

Surprisingly, San Antonio ranked near the bottom of the list with housing prices increasing by five percent year-over-year. Single-family homes in the Alamo City had a median price just under $300,000 in 2024, which spiked to $315,000 in 2025.

Housing market predictions in 2026
Zoocasa predicts the 2026 U.S. housing market is "poised for a steady revival" since mortgage rates have dipped nearly a full percentage point since this time last year. Current interest rates for a a 30-year mortgage are sitting at 6.16 percent, the study said.

The NAR report additionally found that pending home sales have grown by 2.6 percent year-over-year from 2024.

"Homebuyer momentum is building," said NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun. "The data shows the strongest performance of the year after accounting for seasonal factors, and the best performance in nearly three years, dating back to February 2023."

The top 10 Southern cities where housing affordability is improving the most in 2026 are:

No. 1 – Naples-Immokalee-Marco Island, Florida
No. 2 – Dallas, Texas
No. 3 – Durham, North Carolina
No. 4 – Ocala, Florida
No. 5 – Beaumont-Port Arthur, Texas
No. 6 – Cape Coral-Fort Myers, Florida
No. 7 – Jacksonville, Florida
No. 8 – Atlanta, Georgia
No. 9 – Austin, Texas
No. 10 – Raleigh, North Carolina

dallas real estate housing affordability real estate report housing prices