How Far Will Houstonians Drive for Housing They Can Afford?

New research looks into how commuting times in the Houston area effect on housing prices.

1 minute read

October 17, 2016, 12:00 PM PDT

By Casey Brazeal @northandclark


Texas Suburb

SoleilC / Shutterstock

Most people would like to live close to the place they work, but, in a growing city like Houston, that can be an expensive proposition. For many Houstonians it's necessary to "drive 'til you qualify"—i.e., searching through suburban communities for homes in your price range. According to Paul Takahashi of the Houston Business Journal, "the average commute for Houstonians who own a $265,000 home is 30.5 miles."

This data comes from work done by Scott Davis of Meyers Research, whose investigation found "About 67 percent of these Houston homeowners have a commute that’s between 15 to 47 miles." In his work, Davis’s goal was to quantify the value of those miles in terms of the price of homes. We will see whether planners and developers are influenced by these findings.

Thursday, October 13, 2016 in Houston Business Journal

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