Cleburne breaks new housing record

Cleburne Times-Review
By Matt Smith msmith@trcle.com
Jan 28, 2023

Despite ongoing economic concerns and a dip in 2021 over 2020 numbers new residential construction remains robust in Cleburne, Cleburne Economic Development Director Grady Easdon said.

“We  issued  342 new residential permits in 2022, which is the most we’ve ever done,” Easdon said.

Last year’s total bumps the numbers to 1,327 new residential permits issued since 2018.

The news gets better, Easdon said.

“You can see our track record over the last five years,” Easdon said. “Exciting new growth, and these new rooftops are largely responsible for a lot of the new commercial and retail activity we see going on now.”

Easdon delivered an economic update during Tuesday’s Cleburne City Council meeting.

The news, while still positive, remains mixed, Easdon added, tempered by unfavorable economic trends.

“Of our new record 342 residential building permits, it should be noted that 35 were permits for new multi-family construction,” Easdon said. “That represents a slight shift away from single family homes, but is not unique to Cleburne. This is happening everywhere due to increased mortgage rates and home prices in general leaving more and more people looking for lower cost options of places to live.”

Several additional economic trends, including weekly mortgage application information, remain hard to read, Easdon said.

“For the last week of December the data was quite honestly dismal,” Easdon said. “It was down another 13 percent, the lowest since 1996. But, the week that ended Jan. 13 saw applications increase by 28 percent, the largest increase we’ve seen since 2020.

“I think we’re seeing that increase because interest rates have seemed to flatten out a bit. They’re likely going to stay fairly flat for a while, maybe decrease a bit. We’ll have to wait and see. But they’re right now at an average of 6.23 percent for a 30-year mortgage, which is the lowest since September of last year.”

Other economic numbers remain curious.

“North Texas Real Estate Information Services numbers have the median listing price for a home in Cleburne at $329,000 versus $299,000 in December 2021,” Easdon said. “But the median selling price is $261,000 compared to $264,000 in December 2021. 

“I found it interesting that the median listing price went up year over year but then the selling price went down somewhat.”

New business starts remain strong as well.

“We issued 156 certificates of occupancy for 2022, which is 10 more than we issued in 2021,” Easdon said. “This indicates that commercial and retail activity is continuing on very positive trend.”

Easdon highlighted several new businesses and/or commercial construction projects already opened or coming soon including the Live Oak Apartments project, which represents $39 million in new capital investment, the recently opened Texas Smokehouse across from Cleburne Station, Scooters Coffee and the soon-to-open Smoothie King.

“Also, this has a lot of people talking, Our House Restaurant will open soon at the site of the old Caddo Street Grill,” Easdon said. “I ran into the owner who said their opening goal is late February/early March. They’re doing a lot of work and renovation on the inside and they’re going to be a great addition to our downtown.”

Other indicators paint a picture less rosy, Easdon said.

“Our residential construction finished very strong in 2022,” Easdon said. “But a couple of caveats. We expect to see the infrastructure in this new subdivisions continue with home builders kind of taking a wait and see approach in going vertical with construction of new homes depending on what happens with interest rates, supply chain issues, work force, material costs and just the general state of the economy.”

Those, and other, concerns apply everywhere.

“Consumer spending on the local, state and national levels is still strong but is starting to show some signs of slowing due to consistently higher prices on consumer goods,” Easdon said. “Also with a slight drop in disposable income and the fact that holiday sales failed to meet retailer forecasts. So national experts are now predicting a recession for 2023 although the general prognosis is that this will generally be a fairly shallow and short-term recession. We will hope for that.”

That said, sales tax revenues remain strong in Cleburne and retail developers remain optimistic about new projects.

Cleburne unemployment numbers sit at 3.4 percent as of December, slightly up from 3.3 percent from the previous reporting period. Johnson County unemployment numbers, 3 percent, fell slightly from the previous period.

“Our job market is still extremely tight with employers telling me that competition for workers continues to be extremely intense,” Easdon said. “They interview candidates who often don’t take the job because there’s so much available out there.”

That Cleburne remains economically healthy came as no surprise to Councilman Mike Mann.

“What [your report] shows us is what everyone here already knew,” Mann told Easdon. “That is that this is a great place to be and your report shows us why.”

Spreading that news to the outside world remains the goal, Easdon said.

“Our strategy, especially with today’s shifting economic climate, is going to be to continue marketing Cleburne as a great place to establish a new business,relocate one or buy a home,” Easdon said. “The main thing is promoting our outstanding quality of life due to our many amenities and, first and foremost, our competitive edge in low-cost living relative to other areas of the Metroplex.”

It’s important, Mayor Scott Cain said, to stick with those principles.

“While it’s clear that rapid growth has reached Cleburne, we must focus on sustainable growth while preserving our community character,” Cain said. “I believe Cleburne is up to the challenge because our people are what makes Cleburne special. With growth comes challenge and change some good, some painful. But how we handle the change will set the tone for generations to come.”