Texas is among the U.S. states experiencing the biggest shortages of housing units, and the situation here is getting worse, a new study study shows.
Texas needed 320,000 more homes than it had in 2022, the most recent year for which data is available, according to an analysis by Up For Growth, a national housing policy organization. Despite booming construction, that’s a bigger gap than the state experienced the year before, when it was 306,000 homes short.
Housing shortages lead to higher home prices and rents. While Texas’ prices
this summer, the median home cost jumped nearly 40% between 2019 and 2023,
.
The U.S. built more single-detached homes in 2022 than in any of the 15 prior years, and new apartment construction hit its highest level since 1987, according to the report. Even so, permits for new apartment complexes fell in 2023 and continue to decline due to high interest rates and rising construction costs.
“We should expect America’s housing shortage to get much worse very quickly without bold, federal interventions,” Mike Kingsella, Up For Growth’s CEO, said in an emailed statement.