Report: Houston 2nd Most Active Real Estate Market in the Nation Over Last Decade

Published Mar 07, 2022 by A.J. Mistretta

Metro Houston ranks second in the U.S. when it comes to real estate activity across commercial and residential sectors over the last 10 years, a recent report from StorageCafe shows.

Houston was the most active single-family residential market in the country while the New York City metro saw the highest number of building permits issued for new apartments.

Over the last decade, Houston logged:

392,136 single-family permits
170,817 multifamily (apartment) permits
44.3 million square feet of new office space
153.3 million square feet of new industrial space
51.9 million square feet of new retail space
17.5 million square feet of self-storage space

The report looked at activity between 2012 and 2021 across the nation’s 50 largest markets. When all sectors are totaled up, Houston falls just behind Dallas which ranks No. 1 across all real estate sectors over the decade.

According to StorageCafe: “Houston has been the primary destination for newcomers moving to Texas, especially Californians who find respite in Harris County’s lower home prices and tax rates, cheaper land and sound economy. A typical home in Harris County, for example, is 57% cheaper than in Los Angeles County (approximately $848,000 vs. $365,990) whereas the average annual pay is about the same (approx. $75,000 in Harris County and $73,000 in Los Angeles County).

StorageCafe data shows that the best year for single family homes in Houston was 2021, with over 52,000 units planned to be delivered, followed by 2020, with over 52,000 units. The metro area also permitted about 170,000 multifamily units over the past ten years, with 2014 peaking at around 25,000 units.

With more than 44 million square feet of office space built over the past decade, and new industrial construction surpassing 153 million square feet, signs are pointing to even more growth for Houston in the years ahead. “The historically oil-driven hotspot is slowly evolving into a hub for digital technology as well as manufacturing and life sciences,” StorageCafe indicated in its report. “Among the big players that announced new offices in the area in the past year are Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Avetta, Maddox Defense, Dominion Aesthetics Technologies Inc. and Roboze.”

Learn more about metro Houston real estate and why businesses are choosing Houston.