SAN ANTONIO – Texas Real Estate Research Center data show the number of area homes sold for less than $200,000 plunged from 69.3 percent in 2011 to 11 percent in 2022.
The story was the same in the state’s other major metros. The number of homes sold in that price range dropped from 66.4 percent to 5 percent in Dallas, from 53.6 percent to 0.5 percent in Austin, and from 64.8 percent to 10 percent in Houston.
Meanwhile, the number of homes sold that were priced from $200,000 to $299,999, which had been steadily increasing in all four metros, started declining in 2020 as the pandemic took hold. For example, the median sale price of a San Antonio-area home in February was $310,000, up from $240,000 in March 2020.
The supply of lower-priced homes is shrinking because demand is soaring as the state’s population swells; there’s less available land to be developed; and construction, labor, regulatory and financing costs are spiking, researchers say.
Various bills aim to speed construction of new houses and apartments by allowing single-family homes to be built on smaller lots, helping builders get local permits faster, and making it more difficult for neighborhood groups to block new housing projects, the Texas Tribune reports.
For more on San Antonio housing affordability, read the Center’s San Antonio-New Braunfels Housing Affordability Outlook.