HOUSING REPORT
Each year, the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) chooses a handful of cities and Housing Market Analysis ... metropolitan centers nationwide for a Comprehensive Housing Market Analysis.
DEEP DIVE REPORT
Recently, the Lawton metropolitan area, comprised of Comanche and Cotton Counties, was chosen for a deep dive report into the housing market conditions of the area.
These reports are useful for builders, loan officers, city and county planners, economic developers and others that are dependent to the housing industry.
LAWTON - FORT SILL
The health of the housing industry in the Lawton Housing Market Area (HMA) is tied very closely to Fort Sill Army Base and related government sector jobs in the area, with Fort Sill being the largest employer.
In fact, the local economic impact of Fort Sill exceeds $1.75 billion and accounts for over 40% of the Lawton HMA economic output.
From 2001 to 2011 the area enjoyed steady job growth rates, despite periods where national job growth was stagnant or even fell. A large contributor to the continued growth from 2008 to 2010, in contrast nationally, was the implementation of the Base Realignment and Closure Commission recommendations from 2005.
These recommendations saw the relocation of the Air Defense Artillery Headquarters, the Air Defense Artillery School, and the 31st Air Defense Artillery Brigade from Fort Bliss Army Base in El Paso, Texas, to Fort Sill.
CONSTRUCTION
ACTIVITIES
In addition, construction activities for the relocation made an economic impact of over $450 million over that short period. As the BRAC recommendations were completed, the Lawton HMA did experience a slight decline as many of the jobs associated with BRAC were temporary. Since 2011, job growth in the area has declined annually.
More than three-quarters of the 131,200 people living in the Lawton HMA live in the city of Lawton, with 95% of the population in Comanche County and just 5% in Cotton County.
ELGIN’S EXTENSIVE
WORK
During the last two decades, the city of Elgin has experienced extensive growth and is the fastest growing city in the state of Oklahoma.
This can be attributed to two main factors: economic expansion near Elgin, most notably the additional jobs brought by BAE Systems, and increased appeal to home buyers.
POPULATION GROWTH
Across the Lawton HMA, population growth was strong from 2000 to 2010, but fell stagnant in the five years following. Since 2015, the population has rebounded across the region, imitating the gains seen in the first decade of this century.
At the time of the report, the number of households in the Lawton HMA stood at around 48,000 with an average annual increase since 2010 of 100 households. A trend of declining home ownership in the area, noted since 2010, can be attributed to tighter mortgage lending and a propensity to rent, as the number of renters increased over the same period by a two to one margin.
Another factor affecting home ownership is the median household income. In 2013, the median household income in the Lawton HMA was $47,600, compared to a national average of $53,650 and $52,400 in the Oklahoma City Metropolitan area.
As of 2015, the housing market conditions in the Lawton HMA were considered ‘soft,’ with new and existing home sales decreasing 5% year-over-year.
Over that period the average home sales price dropped by $3500 to just $111,400. This is significantly less than the $162,100 average in Oklahoma City and $253,600 nationally.
AFFORDABLE HOMES
COMPARED TO
NATIONAL AVERAGE
The average new home sales price stood at $206,900, which remains affordable compared to the national averages.
New construction home sales increased from 2008 to 2010 due to increased employment opportunities in and around Elgin. This included new single-family housing developments, with Elgin experiencing 50 new homes sold annually, a tenfold increase over the previous seven years.
While growth continues in Elgin, the overall growth of the Lawton HMA has been stagnant since, with new home permits sitting around 50 annually compared to the peak of over 400 in 2009.
Nearly half of all permitted homes since 2000 in the HMA have been in and around Elgin.
Data and information contained within this article is from the publication “Comprehensive Housing Market Analysis, Lawton, Oklahoma” published July 1, 2015, by the U.S Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Office of Policy Development and Research.