Question 1

How much new housing is competing with a Wichita Falls build?

Accepted Answer

Very little. The Census Building Permits Survey counted 160 housing units permitted across the Wichita Falls metro in 2025: 133 single-family, 16 units in 8 duplex buildings, 3 units in 3 buildings of three or four units, and 8 units in one building of five or more. That is down from 239 units in 2024, and about 1.1 permits per 1,000 residents (160 / 149,448). Read it next to the market: active listings fell 21.6% in a year and the city's rent index rose 8.2%. Little competing supply helps a spec or build-to-rent plan, but it also reflects a flat population.

Question 2

Where is the metro actually growing?

Accepted Answer

In Holliday and Lakeside City, not in the city of Wichita Falls. Census Vintage 2025 estimates put Lakeside City up 21.5% since 2020 (1,076 to 1,307) and Holliday up 13.6% (1,525 to 1,733), with Archer County up 6.7% and Clay County up 5.4%. The city of Wichita Falls lost about 0.3% over the same stretch. That points a land search toward the fringe, but those Archer and Clay County parcels sit on other appraisal rolls and we have not verified their tax rates, so price the carry from the parcel's own account before you size the build.

Question 3

Why does water supply matter to a Wichita Falls builder?

Accepted Answer

Because the city has run out of margin before. In the 2011 to 2015 drought Wichita Falls reached Stage 5 (drought catastrophe) restrictions and ran direct potable reuse from July 2014 to July 2015, while its reservoirs fell to an all-time low of 20% of capacity. The city's answer is Lake Ringgold, a $443 million reservoir on the Little Wichita River in Clay County, about 30 miles east. The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality approved the water rights permit on May 10, 2024, and a federal Army Corps Section 404 permit was the next required step; we could not confirm its status, so do not assume the reservoir is under construction. Ask the city's utility about service to your lot.

Question 4

What do permits and impact fees cost in Wichita Falls?

Accepted Answer

We have not verified the city's fee schedule, so we do not publish a number. We could not read the City of Wichita Falls's permit fees, plan-review times or impact fees. Ask the city for them in writing before you build a budget and a draw schedule. One related check: the Wichita Appraisal District's adopted-rate chart lists 13 taxing entities and no municipal utility district or water district, which describes the chart and does not prove that no other levy touches a given parcel. The parcel's own tax account decides. See the ground-up construction program page for terms.

Question 5

What does the exit look like for a spec house or a build-to-rent?

Accepted Answer

A small market with a price ceiling to respect. The median list price was $216,000 in September 2026, up 8.0% in a year but 8.1% under the September 2023 high, with 59 median days on market and about a third of listings (160 of 479) taking a cut. A spec priced well above that is selling into a market where a third of sellers are cutting. For build-to-rent, the metro's single-family rent index was $1,390 in September 2026, up 8.9%. Once built, the house pays the full investor stack, 2.231167 per $100 in Wichita Falls inside Wichita Falls ISD, so a $250,000 house would carry about $5,578 a year ($250,000 x 2.231167 / 100). That is an illustration, not an appraisal.

Ground-Up Construction in Wichita Falls

How it works

Run your Ground-Up Construction numbers.

Ground-Up Construction in Wichita Falls, answered.

More Ground-Up Construction questions, answered on the program page

Guides for Ground-Up Construction

Other programs in Wichita Falls

Ground-Up Construction elsewhere in Texas

Funding Wichita Falls deals fast.