Texas Housing Market Value Could Fall Under New Proposal

Workers renovate the exterior of a newly constructed home on March 19, 2024 in Austin, Texas.

New zoning regulations proposed by Texas Democrats last month could help the Lone Star State increase its housing supply and bring down costs as residents continue to be smacked by still-high interest rates and ballooning insurance premiums.

During its annual meeting on June 8, the Texas Democratic Party laid out its plan to loosen local zoning regulations, which regulate what kinds of housing can be built and where. This kind of reform, they say, will lower home prices and rents, tackling the state's affordability crisis.

The platform adopted by the Texas Democrats also sees the change in zoning regulations in the state as a way to address racial discrimination in housing, by "ending racially motivated exclusionary forms of zoning which limit the supply of affordable housing options" and "undoing segregation era land use restrictions that divide communities, drive displacement, and fuel rising housing costs to this day."

State Republicans, according to local news reports, are onboard with loosening zoning regulations, though for different reasons. According to an earlier report by The Texas Tribune, state Republicans are attracted to the idea of reducing government regulations on the Texas market and boosting individual property rights.

Newsweek contacted the Texas Democrats and the Republican Party of Texas for comment by email on Monday morning.

What both parties certainly agree on is that the cost of housing has gotten unaffordable for many Texas residents. While Texas has been building more new homes than almost any other state in the country, with the exception of Florida, it is still facing a lack in affordable inventory, especially in its biggest cities.

A recent study from Harvard University's Joint Center for Housing Studies found that the Texas housing market is still experiencing some sort of hangover from the booming years of the pandemic.

Despite prices going modestly down from their pandemic peak, when an influx of people moving from other states increased competition for homes, homeownership remains an unattainable dream for a growing number of families. That's because the growth in home prices during the pandemic far outpaced income growth in the state, especially in big cities.

In Austin, a family needs to make more than $140,000 to afford a home at the median sale price, according to the center—despite the fact that home prices have been declining for months in the Texas capital. In the metropolitan areas of Dallas-Fort Worth and Houston, a family needs to make more than $100,000.

Home insurance premiums have also been rising in Texas, as the risk of extreme weather events like hurricanes is made more severe by climate change. Between 2019 and 2024, the state experienced the fifth-biggest cumulative increase in the country, according to a study by online lending platform LendingTree. A bad hurricane season this year could further contribute to bringing up insurance premiums in the state.

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