The Chicken or the Egg

What comes first, the chicken or the egg?  It’s much like development in a growing area – do the residential homes come first or the commercial development?  Almost every time, the homes come first.  When HEB, restaurants, and other businesses look at opening, they need a certain level of population to make it worthwhile.  So when a buyer in a new, growing area first moves in, they usually have to drive pretty far for these basic services.  But over time, the commercial development arrives.  It’s a tradeoff for those early buyers as they buy when land prices were cheaper, so the homes were less expensive.  As the area grows, land prices increase so the future homes are more expensive.  But those first buyers also have to deal with the inconvenience.  My very first home was new construction in a newer area and it was about 25 minutes to the nearest grocery store.  Now, of course, there are three within 5 minutes of that house.