Texas 2025–2026: What New Laws Mean for Real Estate, Manufacturing, and Investment
- Adriana Perez
- Nov 16
- 6 min read
Updated: Nov 16
Texas just made some significant policy moves, and they’re about to reshape how we build, buy, and do business across the state. Between new rules on foreign ownership, zoning reform for affordable housing, tighter construction laws, and tax relief for equipment-heavy businesses, the Lone Star State is signaling one thing loud and clear:
“We’re open for business, but smarter about it.”
These changes are part of a coordinated shift toward modernization, domestic reinvestment, and long-term economic resilience. For investors, developers, and manufacturers, the question isn’t whether this will affect you, it’s how soon you’ll position yourself to benefit.
Here’s what’s changing, why it matters, and what to watch for as we move into 2026.
Foreign Ownership Restrictions: Texas Draws New Lines
Effective September 1, 2025: Texas Senate Bill 17
Texas is joining a national trend of restricting land purchases by specific foreign individuals and governments from “countries of concern.” Under SB 17, the state will prohibit or limit real-property acquisitions near military bases, energy infrastructure, and other strategic assets.
What It Means
Tighter oversight. Title companies and brokers will begin verifying foreign ownership during transactions.
Market rebalancing. Restricted buyers could cool down land markets where foreign capital once dominated.
Domestic advantage. U.S.-based and allied investors may gain access to high-demand tracts near logistics corridors, energy hubs, and industrial parks.
The Controversy
Supporters see SB 17 as a move to protect national security and keep critical land in domestic hands. Critics warn of civil rights conflicts, noting that similar laws in other states, like Florida’s SB 264, are being challenged for violating the Fair Housing Act and Equal Protection Clause.
The concern? Once a state begins restricting property ownership based on nationality, it risks creating a slippery slope, one that could eventually open the door to broader exclusions.
Investor Takeaway
If you’re acquiring or marketing property near ports, rail networks, or energy infrastructure, this will reshape your buyer pool. Include ownership-verification contingencies in contracts and monitor rulemaking closely, the Texas Attorney General still must define “countries of concern.”
For investors in domestic partnerships or REITs, this could translate into less competition and more leverage when sourcing large parcels.
Manufactured Housing Zoning Reform: A New Path to Affordability
Effective September 1, 2026: Texas Senate Bill 785
Texas just tackled one of the toughest barriers to affordable housing: local zoning restrictions. SB 785 mandates that municipalities allow HUD-code manufactured homes “by right” in areas already zoned for single-family dwellings, no special-use permits, no bureaucratic stall-outs.
Why It Matters
Level playing field. Manufactured homes meet federal safety standards but have long faced local bans rooted in stigma rather than data.
Predictability for developers. This law removes discretionary zoning hurdles and creates a consistent path to develop affordable housing.
Opportunity Zone synergy. Many of Texas’s designated Opportunity Zones overlap with fringe areas where manufactured housing is viable, places like Alvin, Liberty, or Cleveland. That means investors can pair zoning reform with federal capital-gains deferral and exclusion benefits when developing or improving these communities.
The Challenges
Cities are voicing concerns about losing control over density, infrastructure load, and aesthetics. Financing remains another friction point, many manufactured homes still rely on chattel loans with higher interest rates.
But the bigger story is economic mobility. Manufactured housing in Opportunity Zones could become the missing link between rental living and first-time homeownership, especially for Texas’s workforce and young families priced out of urban cores.
Start scouting land in metro fringe Opportunity Zones before the zoning maps update in 2026. When “by-right” development takes effect, the window for affordable acquisition will close quickly.
Combining HUD-code flexibility, Opportunity Zone incentives, and zoning certainty gives investors one of the strongest affordable-housing plays in the state.
Construction & Lien Law Adjustments: Protecting the Payment Chain
Effective September 1, 2025: Texas Senate Bill 841
Texas construction law is infamous for its complexity. SB 841 aims to simplify the trust fund rules and modernize lien procedures.
What’s New
Trust fund clarity. Payments received for a project must stay within that project; misuse now carries tougher liability.
Deadline flexibility. Lien-filing deadlines that fall on weekends or holidays automatically roll to the next business day.
Cleaner paper trails. These changes reduce disputes and help title companies close with confidence.
Why It Matters
Owners, investors, and lenders gain a stronger legal footing. Contractors face higher compliance costs, but the reward is greater trust in payment integrity, a win for serious players.
Investor Takeaway
If you’re funding development or flipping commercial property, create project-specific escrow accounts and document disbursements thoroughly. The extra structure means cleaner closings and protection from lien disputes that can derail sales.
Tangible Property Tax Exemption: Relief for Business & Industry
Effective January 1, 2026 (expected): Proposition 9 / H.J.R. 1
Voters approved Proposition 9, letting the Legislature exempt up to $125,000 of the market value of tangible personal property used to produce income from local property taxes.
That means a small manufacturer with $150,000 in equipment could effectively remove most of it from the tax rolls.
Why It’s Important
Tax savings. This directly cuts annual property-tax costs for equipment-heavy businesses.
Encourages modernization. Manufacturers can reinvest savings in automation, technology, or expansion.
Opportunity Zone advantage. Businesses operating within Opportunity Zones can layer federal capital-gains deferral with state property-tax relief, creating an ideal environment for industrial redevelopment projects or adaptive reuse sites.
The Debate
Local governments warn of revenue loss unless offset by state funding. The final implementation will depend on enabling legislation, defining who qualifies, and how to claim the exemption.
If you own or plan to acquire industrial or mixed-use property, this exemption could meaningfully boost your cap rate. Pair it with bonus depreciation or Opportunity Zone benefits, and Texas industrial real estate becomes one of the most tax-efficient plays in the country.
Manufacturing Modernization Task Force: Setting the Stage
Created by Senate Bill 2925 (2025)
Behind the scenes, Texas is forming a Task Force on Modernizing Manufacturing, a multi-agency coalition that will identify barriers to automation, workforce training, and energy reliability. Their report is due October 1, 2026 , but the positioning starts now.
Why It Matters
Signals new incentives. Expect upcoming programs for modernization grants, training credits, or site-readiness investments.
Expands Opportunity Zones’ role. Many of the regions targeted for industrial modernization overlap with existing Opportunity Zones near Houston, Dallas, and Corpus Christi. For investors and developers, this means the next generation of industrial parks, fabrication hubs, and logistics corridors will likely be designed to attract both public funding and OZ capital.
Creates a competitive edge. Texas aims to outpace states like Ohio and Tennessee in advanced manufacturing — reshoring not just jobs, but entire supply chains.
The Ethical Balance
Manufacturers can participate, but must do so transparently. The right way to engage is through public hearings, testimony, and data sharing, not private lobbying. A balanced, transparent task force benefits everyone, small shops and large plants alike.
Investor Takeaway
If you operate in or near an Opportunity Zone, your timing is ideal. Start aligning project language with modernization priorities, automation, workforce training, or sustainability. That alignment could make your project eligible for future incentives once the task force’s recommendations become policy.
The Bigger Picture: Texas Is Recalibrating
Across all these measures, Texas is tightening oversight but widening opportunity:
Foreign ownership rules protect national interests while rebalancing the market.
Zoning reform lowers barriers to affordable housing, especially inside Opportunity Zones ripe for redevelopment.
Construction and lien updates modernize protections and increase investor confidence.
Property-tax exemptions reward those who reinvest in productivity and innovation.
Manufacturing modernization builds a pipeline for incentives, and it’s no coincidence that many target zones overlap with Opportunity Zones, where private capital meets public policy.
For investors and developers, the message is clear: Texas is future-proofing its economy, not just through deregulation, but through strategic recalibration.
The opportunity now is to think beyond transactions. These policies are creating ecosystems, places where housing, industry, and capital align. Understanding how they connect could be the difference between watching the next Texas boom… or building it.
Sources
Texas isn’t waiting for Washington, it’s building its own blueprint for growth.
With zoning reform opening new land, Opportunity Zones attracting fresh capital, and manufacturing poised for reinvention, the state’s next chapter will be written by those who see the connections first.
Whether you’re developing, building, or investing, one thing is certain: the laws have changed, and so have the opportunities.