Land rush for North Texas lots sends prices sky high

DALLAS – The housing market’s return to North Texas has burned through existing home lots, dropping their availability to 50,721 from 92,750 in the past five years, according to research firm Metrostudy.

U.S. Census data show that DFW added 132,000 people in the past year. Combine that with the latest report of only 3,182 finished vacant homes in DFW, and there’s an obvious shortage.

The lack of ready-to-build lots is causing land prices to spike, a cost often passed on to homebuyers. Nationally, land values rose an average of 13 percent in 2012, the first gain since 2005, according to Zelman & Associates.

Market A includes north Fort Worth stretching north and east to McKinney, along SH 121 and the Sam Rayburn Tollway.

Market B includes Rockwall, Arlington or areas in A markets that lack close freeway access. Land prices in select A markets have gone up roughly 30 percent in the past two years, setting all-time records.

In response, Dallas area single-family home prices shot up 7.3 percent year-over-year in February. Land costs make up 21.7 percent of the final sale of a new home, according to the National Association of Home Builders.