New Home Prices Return To Pre-COVID

COVID was a train wreck that took lives, horribly impacted the economy and families in general. My heart breaks for everyone that was impacted and endured loss of loved ones or financial or personal loss.

I am a broker/owner who specializes in new construction homes and also a custom home builder. My passion is building new homes for families. So, I watch labor, material and land prices very carefully.

The graph below shows new construction home prices and prices have almost returned to pre-COVID levels. Many believe that COVID began on or around Jan 2020. The chart data shows home prices for 01/2020 were an average of $370k and today an average new construction home is at $415k with a a delta of roughly $45k. That $45k is over almost 48 months giving an average of a 3% price increase each year over the 4 years. Remember, this data is for Collin County Texas only.

Exception To The Rule - Celina TX

Now within Collin County sits little Celina TX (not little for much longer) with its booming new construction market. When we graph this data we see a 98% price increase since the start of COVID and that includes a $50k price drop or adjustment off its peak. Celina experienced home prices costing twice as much over 4 years. This is something Texas never has seen before. We typically experience 2% - 5% of growth in home prices each year.

Hold On Tight To Your Real Estate Agent

So if you have dreamed of building your forever home, be sure to locate an awesome locale real estate agent to guide you through the process. An agent that knows and works new construction can show you the neighborhoods of value with data just like this. Your agent will guide you in selecting a builder that will make the process fun and enjoyable and celebrate with you on closing day.

In my example above, Celina might not be the right city for a 'value conscious' buyer or someone wanting a 'good deal'. Celina is in demand, has a high national visibility, and a high 'hotness factor'.

As a local agent, I could easily guide my clients away from Preston Road and over to the Hwy 75 corridor and north. There are many beautiful new home neighborhoods that start in the $350s. This is just one of the values your local agent can bring to your new home purchase.

In Conclusion

With the recent NAR commission settlement, you might decide as a buyer to just work directly with the builder. I will write a post about doing that with both the pros and the cons later, but the short version for today is working with a licensed agent is the right way to build a new home.