industry trends

Housing affordability comes up constantly in conversations with our customers, and it’s a top concern across the building industry. In a recent Window + Door blog post, editor Laurie Cowin looked at how affordability is squeezing would-be homebuyers and what it’s doing to window and door manufacturers. We wanted to take the same question and bring it home to Dallas-Fort Worth: what does affordability mean for the glass installers we serve?

The National Picture

Cowin points to work from Harvard’s Joint Center for Housing Studies, where senior research fellow Alexander von Hoffman has written about the disappearance of the moderately priced single-family home. His argument: builders have focused on the high end of the market for years, while older starter homes have been expanded or torn down and replaced with bigger ones. The result is a shrinking supply of homes that middle-income families can realistically buy. The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) now lists housing affordability among its top priorities.

The NAHB/Wells Fargo Cost of Housing Index puts numbers on the problem. In the second quarter of 2026, a family earning the national median income needed 34% of its pre-tax income to cover the mortgage payment on a median-priced new home, and 36% for an existing home. For low-income families, the share jumps to 67% for a new home and 71% for an existing one.

How DFW Compares

North Texas is in better shape than many markets, but not by as much as you might think. In the same Q2 2026 index, a typical family in the Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington metro needed about 30% of its income to cover the mortgage on a median-priced existing home. That’s right at the line: NAHB considers families who must spend more than 30% cost-burdened. Low-income families in DFW would need 61% of their earnings.

Local sales data tells the same story. According to the MetroTex Association of Realtors’ September 2026 report on the North Texas single-family market:

• Closed sales were down 5% from a year earlier.
• Pending sales fell 11%, and new listings dropped 10%.
• The median sales price held flat at $390,000.
• Days on market held at 58, with about 4.3 months of inventory.

In other words, fewer North Texans are buying and selling homes. Prices haven’t dropped, so buyers aren’t getting much relief, and many owners who might have moved are staying where they are.

What Manufacturers Are Seeing

Window + Door’s 2026 Top Manufacturers survey asked companies how affordability is affecting their business. Responses were mixed, but the companies feeling the squeeze described three trends:

• Homeowners under financial strain have become much more selective about home improvement spending.
• Customers are asking for lower-cost product options, and manufacturers don’t expect that to change soon.
• With fewer homes changing hands, fewer sellers are replacing windows to boost resale value, and fewer new homes are being built.

The Other Side of the Coin

Here’s where the story gets more interesting for installers. When people can’t sell, or can’t afford to move up, many of them invest in the house they already have. Our Director of Sales & Business Development, Kristina Buckett, made that point in Glass Magazine’s 2026 Top Glass Fabricators Report. She credited strong shower enclosure demand to high-end remodeling and new construction, with homeowners upgrading windows and showers because selling has gotten harder.

The same report found that retrofit made up a larger share of fabricators’ business in 2025 than the year before. And over the long run, North Texas keeps growing: Census data cited in the report shows Texas among the top states for domestic migration in 2025. Those new residents need places to live, and the homes they buy or rent will need glass.

Where to Focus in 2026

If you install glass in DFW, here’s how we’d think about adapting:

• Follow the remodel dollar. Frameless shower enclosures, bath mirrors, replacement window glass and decorative or pattern glass are upgrades homeowners see and use every day. Make them easy to buy from you.
• Offer good, better and best. Price-sensitive customers still want choices. Showing a framed or semi-frameless enclosure next to a heavy frameless one, or standard clear next to low-iron, lets them pick a price point instead of walking away.
• Sell energy savings. In a Texas summer, low-E glass helps keep heat out and cooling costs down. For homeowners watching every dollar, that’s a real selling point.
• Be ready for value-focused builders. If more moderately priced homes get built, builders will be looking for cost-effective glass packages. Know your numbers and your lead times.
• Keep a premium option in your lineup. High-end remodels are still moving. All-glass handrail systems from our Excel Glass Systems division give you an upscale upgrade to offer.

Whatever the market does, we’re here to help you bid it right. Call us at (972) 506-9580 or send us a message.

Sources: “Housing Affordability’s Impact,” Window + Door, May 2026; NAHB/Wells Fargo Cost of Housing Index, Q2 2026; MetroTex Association of Realtors, September 2026; “2026 Top Glass Fabricators Report,” Glass Magazine, March 2026.