Real Estate Rumblings

These Texas housing markets rank among healthiest in America

Texas has some of the healthiest housing markets in the nation, according to WalletHub.

Photo courtesy of Ebby Halliday Realtors

Across the country, real estate markets are becoming more competitive, and here in Texas, homes are getting pricier by the day. The good news is that the Lone Star State has some of the healthiest housing markets in the nation: WalletHub recently ranked the health of housing markets in 25 big U.S. metropolitan areas, and Austin, Houston and San Antonio all come in near the top.

Wallethub analyzed metro areas based on 10 key metrics, from the interest rate on a first mortgage to the percentage of households that have received state or local assistance on their first housing loan. Based on the analysis, San Antonio has the third healthiest housing market, Austin the sixth and Houston the 10th.

Among the metros studied, Austin has the second lowest down payment percentage (14.51 percent); only San Antonio fares better (13.71 percent). Both cities also rank in the top five for lowest percentage of underwater mortgages.

When it comes to households that have the least access to a home equity lines of credit, though, Texas takes the top three spots, with San Antonio, Austin and Houston all coming in well below the national average of 5.16 percent. (This is a bad thing.) Interest rates on a first mortgage are also higher than most, with Austinites paying 4.81 percent, Houstonians paying 5.19 percent and San Antonians paying 5.24 percent. The national average is 4.71 percent.

Dallas-Fort Worth isn't included in the study, but we can say it's great place for first-time homebuyers.

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Dallas was a top-10 destination for Gen Zers on the move for 2023

Photo by Lance Asper on Unsplash

Who wouldn't want to live in a Gen Z paradise like Dallas?

As Gen Z enters adulthood, many are flocking to the nation's biggest cultural hubs like New York City, Los Angeles — and now Dallas, which had the ninth-highest inflow of Gen Zers in 2023.

Dallas' new reputation as a Gen Z hotspot was unveiled in a recent report by American home improvement brand This Old House, which analyzed migration trends across multiple generations using 2023 U.S. Census Bureau data.

Dallas saw an influx of 13,770 Gen Z residents last year to become the generation's No. 9 most popular city. That's 4,223 more Gen Zers than the net migration rate from 2022, the report found.

Real estate marketplace Zillow seems to agree on a statewide scale, declaring Texas as the No. 1 destination for Gen Zers on the move in 2024.

However, as Gen Z Dallasites may have learned, it's going to take a big bite out of their paychecks to live in such a highly sought after city. A March RentCafe housing cost analysis predicted Gen Z adults living in Dallas are likely to spend over $149,000 on rent by the time they are 30 years old.

While Dallas saw big gains in its Gen Z population last year, many other big cities saw a mass exodus. Plano, for example — which gained 1,295 Gen Z residents in 2022 — lost 4,028 Gen Zers in 2023, the report discovered.

The biggest Gen-Z exodus was in El Paso, with a drop of 5,607 — "a sharp turn from 2022 when the city saw an increase," the report said. "Other cities, including Plano, Texas; Memphis, Tennessee; McKinney, Texas; and Wichita, Kansas, are seeing similar declines."

"Gen X, baby boomers, and the Silent Generation are also moving away from major cities, particularly New York City and Washington, D.C.," the report said. "They’re heading to some of the same cities as Gen Z, including Houston and Jacksonville, Florida."

The top 10 cities that gained the most Gen Z residents in 2023 are:

No. 1 – New York City, New York
No. 2 – Los Angeles, California
No. 3 – Houston, Texas
No. 4 – Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
No. 5 – Chicago, Illinois
No. 6 – San Diego, California
No. 7 – Seattle, Washington
No. 8 – Charlotte, North Carolina
No. 9 – Dallas, Texas
No. 10 – Minneapolis, Minnesota

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Dallas was a top-10 destination for Gen Zers on the move for 2023