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Houston’s Exurbs Attracting Buyers

by Lolita Thomas

 Houston’s exurbs, with their relatively low cost of living, are becoming hubs for new residents, according to a new report by Joel Kotkin in Forbes.

Kotkin notes that last year, almost 80 percent of the Houston metro area’s new homebuyers purchased residences outside Beltway 8.

The exurb Katy, which is 31 miles west of Houston, is an example of that expansion. Since 1990, Katy’s Cinco Ranch community has grown to 18,000 residents, while the population of the Katy area has reached 305,000.

One characteristic that tends to draw buyers to Katy is its diversity:

  • 40 percent are non-Hispanic white.
  • One in five people are foreign born.
  • About half of the students at the area’s local high school are Caucasian.
  • Asian students have also seen an increase in the population.

Katy’s growth is part of a wider American trend towards suburbanization. In 2014, 529,000 Americans between 25 and 29 moved from cities out to the suburbs, while 426,000 moved in the other direction, according to last month’s U.S Census Bureau data. Individuals under 20 showed that 721,000 moved out of the city, compared with 554,000 who moved in. NAR reports that seniors over 65 are seven times more likely to relocate to a suburb or rural setting than an urban area.

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