Texas’s Biggest Real Estate Stories of 2022

There’s a reason realtors love what they do. Real estate is possibly the most fascinating—and hottest— industry today. It has been a consistently exciting and difficult-to-predict market for hundreds of years, and one that impacts everyone’s lives. The property market is moved by world events, economic trends and politics. It also influences all of the above.

So, when you hear your neighbor talking about real estate, you needn’t be surprised. After all, it is an industry that one and all can follow, regardless of whether you work within it or are buying or selling a home. No matter who you are, it will impact you throughout your life, and knowledge is not only useful for conversations but provides economic power as well.

To help you understand the vast range of real estate events going on, here are some of the biggest Texas real estate stories of 2022 (so far).

Texas Homeowners Insurance vs. Extreme Weather

Texas homeowners insurance is one of the biggest factors buyers need to consider when looking for a new home. There are multiple reasons for this. Price is a factor, but buyers should also take note of what homeowners insurance trends say about the area. Insurance companies assess risk and will price their policies according to the likelihood of natural disasters.

Texas has never been known as the most hospitable state in terms of its weather. However, Texas insurance companies are now trying to prepare themselves for extreme weather events that you would never have expected in Texas in the past. Last year’s cold snap created problems that Texan homeowners were not prepared for. The power grid could not handle unprecedented levels of electrical use. Pipelines froze, making water unavailable.

In March of 2022, Texas faced extremely destructive tornadoes. Experts have predicted that extreme weather events are going to become the norm here. As such, homeowners’ insurance prices are set to rise. That is to be expected, but if companies start excluding tornado coverage, homeowners level of concern should also rise. That would mean that they expect that severe tornado damage will become unavoidable in the near future.

Booming Property Prices

The story of booming property rates in Texas began in 2020. After the first months of the pandemic had brought property prices down, a sudden turnaround began. The Federal Reserve had lowered interest rates, and mortgage rates hit record lows. Demand for property rose, but supply was at an all-time low due to construction delays and a lack of sellers.

The property market throughout the U.S. has been on the rise ever since, and that has been particularly prevalent in Texas. This was supposed to be the year in which prices normalized, with interest rates going up again. Then, Russia invaded Ukraine and everything changed.

Interest rates went down again to counter the rising costs caused by sanctions on Russia. Demand for property increased further. Prices are still rising, and there is no end in sight. As such, many buyers have been priced out of the market, and it will be interesting to see if and when a correction happens.

A Growing Population

With prices at all-time highs, you might expect that few people would consider moving into Texas. However, the opposite has happened. Migration to Texas has increased, and from July 2020 to July 2021, Texas saw a higher population increase than any other state.

This is one of the factors that has increased the price of real estate, and it will have an interesting impact on our cities. Part of the reason for this migration is the increasingly unsustainable cost of living in states like New York and California. Another reason is that the tech industry in Dallas-Fort Worth is booming, making it the next, more affordable Silicon Valley.

These are just a few of the real estate stories to watch in Texas this year. The property market has always been one that interests people from all industries, including those with no intention of buying or selling a home. In Texas, we can expect unprecedented times to become the new norm.