Large metropolitan areas in Texas account for a vastly disproportionate share of new housing over the last quarter century but slow-growing metropolitan areas like New York and Chicago are building more quickly in already developed neighborhoods.
The Lonestar state’s four largest metropolitan areas—Austin, Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio—increased housing supply by more than 12 percent through 2025. Combined, those regions accounted for 13.3 percent of national housing supply growth.
Yonah Freemark, Research Director at the Land Use Lab at the Urban Institute, analyzed the U.S. Census Bureau’s Address County Listing Files to determine where new housing is being built nationwide.
Overall, the housing supply within metropolitan areas grew by almost 9 million units between 2020 and 2025 – a 6.6-percent increase. The three most populous metropolitan areas—New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago—saw housing supply growth rates of less than 4 percent.
Other fast-growing metropolitan areas include Phoenix, Charlotte, Orlando, Nashville, Jacksonville, and Raleigh, all of which had growth rates of more than 10 percent. When examining all metropolitan areas regardless of size, those that added the most housing supply were largely in the Southeast and Southwest.
“These data suggest that overall housing supply trends are, to a large degree, a product of construction on areas occupied by farms or natural uses.”