Houston Housing
Harris County, Fort Bend County, Montgomery County, Brazoria County, Galveston County, Liberty County, Waller County, Chambers County, Austin County, San Jacinto County

 

The sixth largest metropolitan region in the country is also one of the best bargains when it comes to housing costs.

  • Houston's housing costs are more than 19% lower than the national average and 36% lower than the average of the 27 metro areas with more than 2 million residents - according to the Third Quarter 2011 ACCRA Cost of Living Survey
  • Low housing costs and a low cost of living are the main reasons Houston's overall living costs are 10.6% below the nationwide average for places of all sizes and 19.5% below the large-metro average.
     

    • Here are just a few of Houston's #1 rankings...

Best Undergraduate Entrepreneurship Program - University of Houston 
The Princeton Review (as reported by Entrepreneur.com) – September 2011 

New Housing Construction
Houston Business Journal - August 26, 2011 

Highest Quality of Life Among Students - Rice University
Princeton Review (as reported by Houston Business Journal) - August 2, 2011 

Top 10 Manufacturing Cities
Business Facilities - July/August 2011 

America's Best Hospitals - Cancer, University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center
U.S News & World Report - July 2011 

Fastest Growing Millionaire City in the U.S.
Forbes.com – July 14, 2011 

Green Building Initiatives (Large City Category - population over 100,000)
The U.S. Conference of Mayors – June 17, 2011    

Top U.S. Manufacturing Cities
Manufacturers' News – May 31, 2011 

Top Cities for IT Jobs
Modis – May 13, 2011    

Most Affordable City to Do Business - Worldwide
Cities of Opportunities 2011 (as reported by PwC and The Partnership for New York City) - May 3, 2011    

2011 Fast City of the Year
Fastcompany.com  – May 2011 

Top 10 Major Cities FDI Strategy
FDI Magazine – April/May 2011 

Best Cities to Start a New Career 
The Daily Beast - October 2010 

America's Best Airports
Travel + Leisure – July 2010 

Click here to view all of Houston's top city ratings and rankings.

HOUSING COST COMPARISONS 

Third Quarter 2011 

(Average for 309 Urban Areas = 100) 

Metropolitan Statistical Area 

ACCRA Housing 

Cost Index* 

Percent Above or Below the Nationwide Average 

ACCRA 

New 2,400-Square-Foot  

House** 

New York-Newark-Edison NY-NJ-PA† 

239.9 

139.9 

676,683 

Washington-Arlington-Alexandria DC-VA-MD-WV† 

221.2 

121.2 

645,491 

Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana CA† 

211.9 

111.9 

595,818 

Boston-Cambridge-Quincy MA-NH† 

157.8 

57.8 

441,000 

Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Miami Beach FL† 

119.1 

19.1 

317,238 

Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington MN-WI† 

118.1 

18.1 

334,589 

Chicago-Naperville-Joliet IL-IN-WI† 

115.9 

15.9 

312,414 

Denver-Aurora CO 

114.2 

14.2 

342,432 

Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Marietta GA† 

85.9 

-14.2 

232,886 

Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown TX† 

80.9 

-19.1 

213,405 

*Index is based 84.11 percent on homeownership costs and 15.89 percent on apartment rent.   

**Approximately 2,400 sq. ft., with 4 bedrooms, 2 baths, family room (or equivalent) 2-car garage and 8,000 sq. ft. lot. Neighborhoods are typical for corporate middle-management transferees. 

†Data are unweighted averages for two or more reporting places. 

Source: Center for Community and Economic Research,  ACCRA Cost of Living Index, Third Quarter 2011 (published October 2011) 


Housing Availability


There is also a good availability of housing in the Houston Region.

  • According to Apartment Data Services, the Houston region has more than 578,000 apartments. Occupancy stood at 86.3% at the end of 2008, down 1.1 percentage points on the year, according to CB Richard Ellis.
  • The Houston residential real estate market currently has about 47,000 active listings.

CLOSINGS, SALES PRICES AND LISTINGS 2004-2009 

Year

Total
Closings

Median
Sales Price1

Average
Active Listings

2004

72,184

$134,574

41,218

2005

79,012

$142,659

43,379

2006

87,799

$148,350

44,032

2007

83,736

$151,706

50,643

2008

69,336

$150,724

50,946

2009

63,424

$152,553

45,210

1Average of monthly medians for previously-owned homes.

Source: Houston Association of Realtors, Feb 2010


For more information see Houston's premiere Multiple Listing provider: http://www.har.com/.

Diversity of Housing Options Houston's diverse neighborhoods and communities offer a home for every lifestyle in all parts of the region, including:

  • Family—friendly neighborhoods
  • Gated communities
  • Estates with large tracts of land
  • Master-planned communities (prices start at around $90,000 and can go as high as $2+ million for the most exclusive homes and communities)
  • Suburban living with options that include communities that have air strips and hangars for small plane enthusiasts/owners, communities that have stables and trails for horse owners/breeders, homes with water access and boat docks
  • Established neighborhoods
  • Resort-style living
  • Near-town bungalows
  • Eclectic neighborhoods
  • Senior living communities
  • High-rise and mid-rise living
  • Country club communities
  • Neighborhoods/communities with parks, golf courses, swimming pools, fitness and recreation facilities, lakes, fishing, extensive hike & bike trails, waterfront home sites, heavily wooded communities, tree-lined streets

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