![\"Illustration](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/final-cover-only-1-1-scaled.png\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
COLLEGE STATION, TX \u2014\u00a0A new special\u00a0edition\u00a0of\u00a0the Texas Real Estate Research Center\u2019s (TRERC) flagship journal,\u00a0Tierra Grande,\u00a0examines the ongoing challenge of housing affordability for Texas homebuyers.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cToday\u2019s affordability challenges are the product of multiple economic forces rather than a single cause,\u201d said\u00a0TRERC Executive Director Pamela Canon. \u201cUnderstanding those forces is essential to developing informed housing policy and market solutions. That\u2019s what we\u2019ve attempted to do with this issue of\u00a0Tierra Grande.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Following the 2007-08\u00a0financial crisis, stricter lending standards, increased regulation, and a prolonged economic slowdown significantly reduced home construction, leaving the nation millions of homes short of long-term housing needs by 2020.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The pandemic intensified those shortages. Global supply chain disruptions, labor shortages, and rising construction costs constrained new home production just as historically low mortgage rates and federal stimulus programs dramatically increased purchasing power. At the same time, migration patterns shifted housing demand toward suburban and exurban communities and states like Texas, concentrating demand into a\u00a0relatively small\u00a0number of markets.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The result was an unprecedented imbalance between supply and demand that fueled rapid home price appreciation beginning in mid-2020.\u00a0During the first half of 2026, the median home price in Texas\u00a0was\u00a031 percent higher than it was six years earlier.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Although prices have softened as mortgage interest rates returned to more typical levels, affordability continues to be strained by elevated construction costs, higher everyday living expenses,\u00a0insufficient wage increases,\u00a0and sharply rising homeowner insurance premiums.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Tierra Grande\u00a0explores housing affordability from multiple viewpoints:\u00a0<\/p>\n
Research Economist\u00a0Yanling Mayer, Ph.D.\u00a0examines how housing affordability is measured and explains how the Center tracks changes in home prices.\u00a0Research Economist\u00a0Jorge Barro, Ph.D.\u00a0analyzes the role of mortgage finance and reviews recent proposals to reform the mortgage market.\u00a0Research Attorney\u00a0Rusty Adams, J.D.\u00a0provides an overview of Texas land use law and its influence on housing development.\u00a0Assistant Research Economist\u00a0Tian Su, Ph.D.\u00a0explores the rapid rise in homeowner insurance costs and their growing impact on housing expenses.\u00a0Research Economist\u00a0Lynn D. Krebs, Ph.D.\u00a0discusses property taxation and recent legislative efforts to reduce homeowners\u2019 tax burdens.\u00a0Research Director\u00a0Daniel Oney, Ph.D.\u00a0examines\u00a0the role of rental housing and changing housing choices among Texas households.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The journal\u00a0will be available online\u00a0at\u00a0https:\/\/trerc.tamu.edu\/tg-magazine\/<\/a>\u00a0July 27, 2026.\u00a0<\/p>\n Media Access:\u00a0<\/p>\n Members of the media are invited to request a\u00a0digital copy of the special issue, available\u00a0under embargo until\u00a0July\u00a027, 2026. To request access, please contact:\u00a0<\/p>\n Bryan Pope\u00a0 \u201430\u2014\u00a0<\/p>\n ABOUT TRERC\u202f\u00a0
Director of Communications\u00a0
Texas Real Estate Research Center\u00a0
\ud83d\udce7\u00a0[email\u00a0protected]<\/a>\u00a0
\ud83d\udcde\u00a0(979) 845-2088\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Texas Real Estate Research Center at Texas A&M University (TRERC) is the nation\u2019s largest publicly funded organization devoted to real estate research. Created by the state legislature in 1971 to meet the data and knowledge sharing needs of many audiences, including the real estate industry, instructors, researchers, legislators, and the public, the Center creates public content, including digital and print documents, publications, and multiple format videos\u00a0that\u00a0are available at the Center\u2019s\u00a0website<\/a>. Subscribe to TRERC news releases and other publications\u00a0here<\/a>.\u202f\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"COLLEGE STATION, TX \u2014\u00a0A new special\u00a0edition\u00a0of\u00a0the Texas Real Estate Research Center\u2019s (TRERC) flagship journal,\u00a0Tierra Grande,\u00a0examines the ongoing challenge…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":392957,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[27,29,28],"class_list":["post-392956","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-texas","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/392956","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=392956"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/392956\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/392957"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=392956"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=392956"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=392956"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}