What are the 10 best home builders in Texas? Texas is the second-largest state in the US with an area of 268,580 square miles. It also has the second-largest population with 27.86 million people and the second-largest gross state product of $1.63 trillion, (it trails California on both metrics). It’s also worth mentioning that Texas has one of the lowest tax burdens in the country, with average resident income tax rate amounting to 8.4%. In addition, Texas is one of the seven states that don’t have a state income tax, although there are some property taxes.
Suggested article: 10 Best Home Builders in California
Texas’s economy is dependent on oil production, but agriculture also plays an important role, as it has the highest agricultural acreage in the US and it generates the highest revenue from livestock and the second-highest revenue from agricultural products (also trailing California). Moreover, the state is trying to diversify its economy. It generates the most wind power in the state and has the largest wind farm in the world (Roscoe Wind Farm). Texas also has one of the largest incentive programs to attract new business.
Nevertheless, due to the state’s high reliability on oil, Texas housing market is one of the most dependent on the barrel prices in the US. As oil prices slumped last year, reaching as low as below $30 per barrel, home prices in Texas slid as well. According to The Wall Street Journal, in the Houston area, average price for a single-family home declined by 7.5% in December 2015, after having hit record prices just earlier that year. This led to home builders and sellers to cut prices and provide more incentives for buyers.
Copyright: sepavo / 123RF Stock Photo
However, as oil prices have been on a rebound and the Fed keeping interest rates low enough to not scare people away from taking a mortgage, home prices in Texas have also been gaining ground. According to Zillow, home prices in Texas have gained 5.9% over the last year and the average price currently stands at around $163,500, which is lower than the US average of $196,500. The growth in home value in Texas is also lower compared to the 6.8% registered across the country. However, Zillow also estimates that over the next year, home prices in Texas will advance by 3.1%, compared to 2.6% in the US.
With this in mind, let’s take a closer look at the 10 best home builders in Texas. Out of many builders that operate in the state, we picked the largest publicly-traded companies in terms of the number of closings in 2015, according to Builder’s Top 100 list. From the list, we sorted the companies based on the number of houses closed in Texas, based on information from their latest 10-K reports with the Securities and Exchange Commission. However, some companies don’t report the information for Texas alone, but include the numbers as part of a reporting segment that might include other states.
