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​COLLEGE STATION, Tex. (Real Estate Center) – Texans have a reliable way to track home price appreciation with the Real Estate Center at Texas A&M University's new Texas Home Price Index (THPI). 

Made possible through a research agreement with the Texas Association of Realtors, the free index tracks real home price appreciation in the state's four big metros and a handful of mid-sized ones. In addition, it provides indexes by price tier for some of the larger Texas markets. 

The THPI uses repeats sales analysis, which measures the change in sales price from multiple sales of the same house. It uses real sales data collected from an improved and expanded database.

“Repeat sales analysis takes another step to isolate true home price appreciation," said Center Senior Data Analyst Joshua Roberson. “Ideally, the analysis includes only homes that have had no or minimal physical changes to focus on market-driven price appreciation."

This method has a number of advantages over other types of analysis. First, home sales are screened to identify properties that have sold at least twice, helping with the issue of changing market mix from period to period.

Second, looking at properties that have sold multiple times shifts the focus to the change in price since the last sale of a specific property. This helps capture appreciation.

While a handful of other repeat sales analyses are available, the Center's index is unique because it not limited by mortgage data or public housing records.

Coverage includes quarterly indexes for Austin-Round Rock, Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land, and San Antonio-New Braunfels as well as Amarillo and El Paso. Variations of DFW include Dallas-Plano-Irving and Fort Worth-Arlington metropolitan divisions.

The index is available for free at www.recenter.tamu.edu/data/home-price-index/.

Funded primarily by Texas real estate licensee fees, the Real Estate Center was created by the state legislature in 1971 to meet the needs of many audiences, including the real estate industry, instructors, researchers and the general public. The Center is part of Mays Business School at Texas A&M University.​

COLLEGE STATION, Tex. (Real Estate Center) – Rural land price data for Alabama, Louisiana, and Mississippi are now on the Real Estate Center's website.

Users can access analyses of prices and tract sizes regionally and statewide going back to fourth quarter 2005. Statewide analyses of land market trends are also available.

“We have the only data of its kind for those states," said Center Research Economist Dr. Charles Gilliland. “It's a public service we provide at no cost."

Center Assistant Research Scientist Dr. Erin Kiella said many other publicly available land data use responses from surveys. The data are often unable to capture the entire market and may be biased. 

“Our data aggregate actual market data and therefore truly represent the local markets," Kiella said. “They can help potential buyers and sellers of land get an idea of market trends taking place either on a regional or statewide basis."

Gilliland said the reports indicate past general conditions in these markets and do not represent prices or values of any particular farm or ranch.

“They do provide a general guide to land market price levels and size trends," he said.

This information is in addition to rural land data for Texas, its regions, and its land market areas going back to fourth quarter 1971. 

Land data can be downloaded for free on the Center's website.​

​COLLEGE STATION, Tex. (Real Estate Center) – Troy Alley Jr. and JJ Clemence have been appointed to the Real Estate Center Advisory Committee for terms set to expire on January 31, 2023. 

Governor Greg Abbott has also reappointed Russell Cain to the committee.

Alley of DeSoto is executive vice president of Con-Real Support Group LP and division president of Real Estate & Capital Assets. He is a member of the Appraisal Institute and holds an MAI designation. He received a bachelor of science in electrical engineering from the University of Arkansas, a master of business administration in real estate from Southern Methodist University, and a certificate in real estate development from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Clemence of Sugar Land is a pricing and fundamental specialist for Enbridge and is a certified internal auditor. She is a member of the Institute of Internal Auditors, treasurer of Enbridge Leadership Development, and a communication officer for the Enbridge Professional Multi-Culture Committee. She received a bachelor of arts in accounting from Anhui University of Finance and Economics in China and a master of business administration from Baker University in Kansas.

Cain of Port Lavaca is a broker and owner of Russell Cain Real Estate. He is a member of the Texas Association of Realtors, National Association of Realtors, and the Port Lavaca Rotary Club. He received a bachelor of business administration from Texas A&M University.

Alley and Clemence are replacing Mario Arriaga and Jacquelyn Hawkins, whose terms expired.

The committee has three public members and one each representing residential, commercial, and industrial properties. Others represent real estate brokerage, construction, and finance. Each is appointed by the governor for a six-year term. The Texas Real Estate Commission is represented by an ex-officio member. 

The committee approves the Center's research plans and reviews findings. Members also approve the Center's proposed budget before it is submitted to the university.​

COLLEGE STATION, Tex. (Real Estate Center) – The Real Estate Center at Texas A&M University has received two Bronze Quill awards from the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) Houston Chapter.

The Red Zone Podcast and the 2016-2017 Annual Report + Calendar both earned Awards of Excellence.

“The Real Estate Red Zone is a highly engaging and informative podcast that is a superb example of what a podcast should be: entertaining, excellent production quality, and leaves the listener wanting more," said one of the judges in the evaluation.

“The work sample is meaningfully produced, largely around Realtors' areas of interest," a judge said of the annual report. “Use of photography and design skills really enhanced the publication, making it appealing to the eye."  

IABC Houston announced the winners at its annual Bronze Quill Awards Gala in Houston.

Both the podcast and the annual report won Bronze Quill Awards of Excellence in 2016 and 2017.

Earlier this year, the annual report earned an international Gold Quill Award of Merit from IABC. Last year, the podcast and annual report received Silver Quill Awards of Merit from the IABC Southern Region.  ​

​​COLLEGE STATION (Real Estate Center) – Texas' vast supply of land is legendary. Ironically, the rising cost of land is now contributing to the state's higher home prices.

“Historically, Texas' home prices have been comparatively low mainly because of the state's abundant supply of low-cost land," said Dr. James Gaines, chief economist for the Real Estate Center at Texas A&M University. "In addition, the land-acquisition process — including costs of property titles, zoning requirements, covenants, deed restrictions, easements, right-of-way restrictions, surveying, and boundary markers — is efficient in Texas. Local platting and permitting have been quick and low cost."

At least as far back as 2005, Texans have enjoyed more affordable homes than U.S. residents as a whole and those in states with the largest populations.

Median Texas home prices trended upward from $106,000 in 2005 to $161,500 in 2016. That is lower than the corresponding nationwide median prices of $167,500 to $205,000. However, the price gap has narrowed in recent years because of Texas' higher price growth rates.

“Land accounts for an increasing portion of a home's overall price," said Dr. Ali Anari, Center research economist. “Land accounted for 20.4 percent of the cost of a single-family Texas home in 2016, less than the nation's 33.5 percent and less than the corresponding shares in the most populous states, namely California's 61.1 percent, New York's 31.2 percent, and Florida's 31.4 percent."

At the metro level, Dallas has the largest share of land as a percentage of home cost (29.4 percent), followed by Houston (25.1 percent), Fort Worth (22.4 percent), and San Antonio (15.2 percent).

“Texas' more affordable home prices have played a key role in the state's economic growth," said Gaines. “They attract more people and businesses from other states and result in more demand for goods and services, higher economic growth rates, and more jobs. These combine to attract even more people.

“But when land price growth outpaces home price growth, land cost accounts for a larger portion of overall home cost."

Read more about Gaines' and Anari's land cost research in “Dirt Isn't Cheap . . . Anymore: Land's Impact on Home Prices."​