A new report by the Dallas Builders Association warns about the harmful effects that skyrocketing home prices can have on the Dallas-Fort Worth economy.

Dallas-Fort Worth is among the top metro areas nationwide for rising home prices. Despite a steady stream of corporate relocations and housing demand in recent years, D-FW is rapidly pricing itself out of the affordable housing market, which is the driving force for continued economic growth.

The report says new home prices have soared more than 80 percent in the last decade. Since 2012, prices of previously owned homes have escalated over 50 percent. In the first five months of 2017, prices jumped 12 percent higher than those a year ago.

The median new home price in D-FW is slightly less than $350,000. For the first time in history, new home prices here outpace the average cost of previously owned homes by approximately $100,000. According to affordability studies, fewer than half of Dallas residents can afford a new house at today’s prices.

Builders attribute the surging price of new homes to increased costs of land, labor, and construction materials. The new duty on Canadian lumber alone is up to 24 percent.

A third of the Dallas builders surveyed blamed local building code changes, additional fees, and regulations for significant cost increases and construction delays.

"Many cities have this mindset that homes need to cost nearly half a million dollars in order to pay their own way," Dallas area builder Alan Hoffmann stated in the report.

The National Association of Home Builders echoes the cost concerns of Dallas builders. The organization estimates that building regulations have boosted costs more than 30 percent over the past five years, which equates to an additional cost exceeding $84,000 for every new home built nationwide.