New housing construction costs lower in Lawton

After home prices spiked during the pandemic, compounded by sky-high interest rates, many families found a new home out of reach. However, recent changes have loosened things up in some areas.

“A lot of our clients want a new build,” Spencer-Ragland said. “They prefer to build their own home. There is a market for new builds and we have plenty of builders here in the community that can assist and we have clients that are interested. So it’s a nice blend.”

And, while the residential real estate market is cooling down slightly, but the cost to build a new home remains high throughout the country, according to a data analysis by Construction Coverage.

But those impacts are much different locally. The analysis said last year the Lawton metro area authorized 2.8 new housing units per 1,000 existing homes, placing it 182nd out of 221 small U.S. metros.

Brenda Spencer-Ragland, Owner and Broker of Nexthome Tri-Covenant Realty, said the rankings don’t seem like much, but she has plenty of homebuyers who plan on building their new home.

They don’t follow national trends like everyone else.

“We’ve got a transient community too,” Spencer-Ragland said. “We have the military that’s always bringing in new families that are looking to either build, purchase or even lease. We have that benefit of a diversity in our community and it really helps us.”

One of the major factors of the decrease in building costs was COVID. Spencer-Ragland said costs are stabilizing after the pandemic.

“We’re seeing new buildings pick back up,” Spencer-Ragland said. “We’ve seen a lot of new builds in the community and I think that’s going to continue to happen.”

There’s more that goes into buying a house.

“The Lawton housing market is strong,” Spencer-Ragland said. “As we see the economic growth continue, that’s going to help the housing market. Folks talk about the cost of housing but there are a lot of factors that play into it. Not just the cost of building supplies, but the interest rate, taxes, cost of insurance.”

Barry Ezerski, Broker and CEO of Pam & Barry’s Team Remax Professionals, said due to last year’s hail storm, insurance rates have gone up.

“Comanche County had one of the highest increases year over year from this summer, opposed to the last summer because of the storm we had in June of 2023,” Ezerski said. “Over 70 percent of the roofs in Lawton had to be replaced. So that caused insurance rates to go up. The good thing about new constructions is most insurance companies discount new houses by as much as 20-25 percent over existing homes. So the insurance rates on new construction is quite a bit lower and that has helped sell some of the new constructions that we’ve had.”

Economic development plays a role as well.

“When you see increased emphasis on our economic growth in the community, you’re going to see improved opportunities for housing sales and rentals,” Spencer-Ragland said. “We’ve got the new businesses coming in at the industrial park, we’ve got Westwin. We’ve seen the growth that they’re planning and projecting for FISTA. When we see the growth at Fort Sill, then all of that plays into our ability to meet the needs of the housing market here.”

Ezerski said Lawton is one of the most affordable markets in the country.

“You can get a new construction in Comanche County a lot cheaper than you can get one in Oklahoma City, Tulsa or Dallas,” Ezerski said. “We’ve actually had some people that have bought new constructions, that have retired and moved here from other states because the cost of living and housing is lower here.”