Two Lot Size Increases in 13 Months: What It Means for Montgomery County Homebuyers

In March 2025, Montgomery County adopted its first overhaul of development regulations in over 40 years — a sweeping update that, among other things, established a 40-foot minimum residential lot width for new developments in unincorporated areas of the county. It was the first time the county had meaningfully updated those standards since 1984.

Now, just 13 months later, commissioners are being asked to raise that minimum again — from 40 feet to 50 feet. If approved at the April 9, 2026 public hearing, Montgomery County will have increased its minimum lot size requirement twice in just over a year. Each increase adds directly and measurably to the cost of a new home. And in a region where housing affordability is already stretched thin, the compounding effect of back-to-back increases deserves a hard look at the data.

How We Got Here: The 2025 Regulation Overhaul

The March 2025 development regulation update was the first time Montgomery County had revisited its subdivision standards since 1984 — more than four decades. Work began in 2023 and involved an 18-month process with a committee of commissioners, engineers, and county officials. The resulting regulations covered traffic impact requirements, storm water management, street widths, privacy fencing, and residential lot sizes. (Source: Community Impact, March 2025)

Among those new standards was a 40-foot minimum lot width for single-family residential development in unincorporated areas of the county. For builders and homebuyers, it was an immediate signal: the era of 30-foot lots — the standard that made communities like Marie Village, William Trails, and Castle's Edge possible — was ending in Montgomery County.

Now, before builders and buyers have had any meaningful time to adjust to the 40-foot standard, a proposal to raise it again to 50 feet is already on the table. The April 9 hearing is where that proposal will be addressed — and where the community has a voice.

What Each Increase Actually Costs a Homebuyer

The price impact of lot size increases is not theoretical. Builder analysis documented by Community Impact found that every additional 10 feet of required lot width adds approximately $100,000 to the purchase price of a new home — a figure that accounts for both the increased land cost and the larger home that typically gets built on a wider lot. (Source: Community Impact, 2022)

Put simply: a family that could have afforded a home on a 30-foot lot before 2025 may no longer qualify for the 40-foot equivalent. And under a 50-foot minimum, even more families fall out of the buyer pool entirely — not because their finances changed, but because a regulation changed the price floor beneath them.

The Affordability Context: Montgomery County in 2026

To understand why two back-to-back lot size increases matter so much, you have to look at the baseline affordability picture in the Houston region — and it is not comfortable reading.

Montgomery County is a high-demand, fast-growing market. More than 10,700 new residential permits were issued here in 2025 alone. That demand is real — and it is coming from working families who need homes they can actually afford to buy. A regulation that adds $100,000 to the entry-level price point does not reduce demand. It redirects it — away from ownership and toward renting, permanently locking families out of the wealth-building that only homeownership provides.

Who Gets Priced Out When Lot Sizes Go Up

Lot size increases do not price out luxury buyers. They price out first-time buyers, veterans using VA loans, teachers, healthcare workers, tradespeople, and young families who are one regulatory increase away from not qualifying. These are the people Ellison Development has spent years developing for — and the people who would be most directly harmed by a 50-foot mandate.

"When you start pushing out the common working class — teachers, firefighters, the police, young military folks — they can't afford a $400,000 house. They're stuck in an apartment. If we don't keep an affordable market with a smaller lot product, we're going to push those folks out, and they're going to go to other areas." — Bill Ellison, Ellison Development · Community Impact, 2022

"Interest rates are increasing, home values are increasing, and I believe that increasing minimum lot sizes inside the city of Conroe is one of the things that will most negatively impact housing availability, housing affordability in the city of Conroe and throughout our region." — Troy Allen, Government Affairs Director, Greater Houston Builders Association · Community Impact, 2022

The Greater Houston Builders Association (GHBA) has consistently opposed minimum lot size increases on affordability grounds — and will be presenting that case to commissioners at the April 9 hearing.

What the Evidence From Existing Communities Shows

The debate over smaller lots is sometimes framed as a quality-of-life issue — an assumption that smaller lots mean lesser neighborhoods. The communities Ellison Development has developed in Montgomery County directly contradict that assumption.

Marie Village, William Trails, and Castle's Edge — all built on 30-foot lots in unincorporated Montgomery County — are established, thriving communities with:

• Low crime rates — consistent with national research showing higher homeownership rates correlate with lower crime
• Strong tax base contribution — every homeowner pays property taxes that fund county roads, utilities, and school districts including Conroe ISD and Montgomery ISD
• Genuine community investment — owners have a financial and personal stake in their neighborhood's stability and appearance
• Attainable pricing — homes that first-time buyers, veterans, and workforce families could actually afford

National data confirms the trend. The median lot size of new single-family homes built in the southern United States fell from 11,048 square feet in 2011 to 8,570 square feet in 2021 — a 22% reduction driven entirely by market demand, not builder preference. Buyers want smaller, more affordable lots. The market has been moving in that direction for over a decade. Regulations that move in the opposite direction are swimming against the current.

Texas Has Already Weighed In

The state of Texas recognized the connection between lot size minimums and housing affordability in its 2025 legislative session. Senate Bill 15 — signed into law in 2025 — prohibits large municipalities from requiring residential lot widths greater than 30 feet in new single-family subdivisions. The Texas Legislature's position is clear: 30-foot lots are a legitimate and necessary standard for workforce housing, and restricting them harms affordability. (Source: Texas Legislature, SB 15)

Montgomery County, proposing a 50-foot minimum, would be moving in the exact opposite direction from the state's stated housing policy — and doing so at the expense of the working families who need affordable homeownership the most.

The Texas Public Policy Foundation has documented that the lot itself accounts for approximately 20.4% of the total cost of a new home to buyers — making lot size one of the single most direct levers available to policymakers for controlling housing affordability. (Source: TPPF, 2024)

What We're Asking Commissioners to Consider

Ellison Development is urging Montgomery County Commissioners to:

1. Reject the proposed 50-foot minimum. Two increases in 13 months is an accelerating pattern that will cause measurable, documented harm to working families in this county with no corresponding benefit to the county's infrastructure or quality of life.
2. Reconsider the 40-foot minimum adopted in March 2025. Now that the data on price impact is clear, commissioners should evaluate whether that first increase was in the county's best long-term interest — and whether a reduction to 30 feet would better serve the families Montgomery County is growing to accommodate.
3. Require an affordability impact analysis before any further lot size changes are adopted. Regulations that affect the price of every new home built in the county deserve a rigorous, data-driven review — not a decision made without modeling the consequences for homebuyers.

Related Reading

• Montgomery County Affordable Housing: The Case Against a 50-Foot Lot Minimum — hub page with hearing details and community information
• Renting vs. Owning in Montgomery County: The Wealth Gap That Changes Everything — why homeownership matters for long-term financial health
• What Texas Senate Bill 15 Says About the Right Size for a Residential Lot — the state's own housing reform and what it means locally

Sources

1. Community Impact: Montgomery County overhauls development regulations (March 2025)
2. Community Impact: Conroe, Montgomery juggle lot size & affordability demands (July 2022)
3. Community Impact: Conroe City Council votes to increase minimum lot size to 50 feet (May 2022)
4. NAHB: Priced-Out Estimates for 2023 — Houston: 3,054 families per $1,000 increase
5. HAR / HARConnect: Houston Housing Affordability Report, Q4 2025
6. Houston Public Media / Kinder Institute: State of Housing in Harris County, 2025
7. HBWeekly: Texas New Residential Construction Review 2025 — Montgomery County: 10,720 permits
8. Texas Legislature: Senate Bill 15, 89th Session — Minimum Lot Size Reform
9. Texas Public Policy Foundation: Impact of Lot Size Regulation on Affordability (2024)
10. American Enterprise Institute: Texas SB 15 — A Housing Lifeline (2025)