As Texas Grows, So Must Its Housing Supply

Texas has long been a place where families can put down roots, build wealth, and pursue the American Dream. That promise of opportunity has attracted millions of people from around the world. And while Texas’ economy continues to thrive, the influx of new residents has driven up the price of housing. It’s simple supply and demand.

That was the focus of this week’s Texas Housing Symposium, where national housing experts, Texas policymakers, and industry leaders gathered to discuss affordability and the reforms needed to make homeownership attainable again.

Attendees were largely optimistic about the recent direction of Texas’ housing policy work. On one panel, Alex Horowitz of the Pew Charitable Trusts declared, “Texas had a banger session [for housing reform] in 2025.” The new challenge is making those reforms work and identifying the next barriers to remove.

TPPF also published new research this week titled Exploring The Texas Housing Market: Conditions, Constraints and Capacity for Development.

The paper estimates Texas was short approximately 306,000 homes in 2021. The median home price has reached $321,000, and 90% of Texans consider housing affordability a problem in their communities. Meanwhile, 51% of Texas renters — roughly 2.1 million households — spend more than 30% of their income on housing.

So, what’s driving the squeeze? Part of it is hard costs like construction labor, insurance, building materials, and interest. The other big factor is the government regulations that create barriers to building new housing.

Zoning restrictions, minimum lot sizes, permitting delays, and fees can make it more expensive to build, limiting the supply of homes available to buyers and renters alike. According to the research, regulation accounts for 23.8% of a typical new single-family home’s price — about $93,870 — and 40.6% of multifamily development costs.

Families deserve to know when government decisions are adding thousands of dollars to the price of a home. TPPF’s new Texas Housing Regulation Cost Tool gives Texans a way to see how local regulations affect housing costs in their own communities. Transparency is an important first step toward reform.

Texas has already begun moving in the right direction with smaller minimum lot sizes and making it easier to convert commercial buildings into residential units. The next step is to build on those reforms, measure their results, and keep removing barriers that prevent new housing from reaching the market. That could mean continuing to reduce unnecessary land-use restrictions, streamlining permitting and development approvals, and addressing the local fees and property taxes that drive up the cost of owning a home.

If Texas wants the next generation to enjoy the same opportunities that drew so many families here, making housing more attainable must remain a priority.