Immigrant Labor Shortage Causes Home Price Hike In Dallas

Home prices in Texas are rising faster than in the rest of the nation, particularly in Dallas, where the median price of a new house has increased 46 percent since 2012.

The Dallas Morning News reports that one cause of the surging prices is the lack of available laborers. In the Dallas area, around 81,000 people worked in the construction trades in February, which is well below the 99,000 workers needed to fill current demand.

The Dallas market is starting to feel the impact of the shortage of available immigrant workers, many of whom are Mexican. At one point, immigrants filled half of the construction jobs in Texas. But, since the recession, Mexico’s economy has improved, luring many workers back home. Also, the U.S.'s new anti-immigration stance has pushed workers away.

During the previous housing boom, from 2002 to 2007, Texas added almost 660,000 international immigrants, according to the Census Bureau. In the past five years, as homebuilding bounced back, international immigration was 40 percent lower.

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