Rio Grande Valley Housing Market
The Rio Grande Valley market had 12,691 vacant developed lots in inventory at the end of the first quarter. Based on the current annual starts rate of 1,836, this lot total represents 82.9 months of supply of lots, well above what is considered a healthy range. A year ago there were 13,779 developed lots, 98.3 months of supply. Says the website metro study, a website that does analysis over a long-term period of years or months whether it be real estate, economy, or anything in the market. “Metrostudy is the leading provider of primary and secondary market information to the housing and related industries nationwide. Metrostudy provides research, data, analytics and consulting services to help builders, developers, lenders, suppliers, retailers, utilities and others make investment and business decisions every day.” Also Metrostudy There remains a small group of fairly active subdivisions that produce the majority of new home construction in the Rio Grande Valley market. The top 57 most active subdivisions generated 1,216 starts over the past year, and that is a 66% share of all RGV starts; to go along with 1,070 annual closings. Developed lot supply in these subdivisions is much healthier than the overall market with 28.9 months of supply on 2,931 lots. The Metrostudy Top Subdivisions Analysis is important to the Rio Grande Valley because it shows normal growth trends and significant activity that belies the overall market analysis. 1Q16 Annual New Home Starts Up 9% YoY; Annual New Home Closings Down 5% YoY. In spite of declines in total inventory, vacant developed lot inventory remains well above what is considered a healthy range with 82.9 months of supply. A small group of active subdivisions produces the majority of new home activity. Metrostudy’s 1Q16 survey of the Rio Grande Valley housing market shows the annual rate of starts was 1,836 units, a 9% increase from 1Q15. The annual rate of new home closings in 1Q16 numbered 1,780, which is down 5% from 1Q15. The annual starts pace in Hidalgo County is 1,307 units which is up 10% over a year ago whereas Cameron County had 529 annual starts a 6% increase. There were 389 starts and 419 closings in the Rio Grande Valley in the first quarter of 2016. To gather strength on a slowly improving job market here in 2017, it seems like the transitions from the previous years is turning out on a good note. Jobs are rising due to project space X here in boca chica which is a whole article of its own. With jobs rising that means more individuals from the southern states, and states all over the country will make their way down here due to the many jobs that will be created very soon. In addition there is no telling how the real estate market will turnout to. Also to take into consideration the amount of illegals with no papers that have a criminal record. The government is laying it down on them to transport them back to where they came from. Just staying aware of the progress here in 2017 which metro study has yet to run analysis over. It is expected to see lots of change in these next following years.