Job growth spurs new home sales in Fort Worth, Texas, analysts say.

Byline: Andrea Jares

Jul. 14--The fuel for the Metroplex's robust new housing market is starting to shift to job growth instead of ultralow financing, analysts said.

The more than 11,500 home starts from April through June were the most ever for a second quarter, according to reports released Tuesday by housing analysts Residential Strategies and Metrostudy.

Area housing analysts also said there were more than 42,000 home starts in the last 12 months -- the most in any 12-month period in decades.

"We've gone from a period where we had about three years of job losses and we're finally getting back to job growth," said David Brown, director of the Dallas-Fort Worth region for Metrostudy.

This time a year ago, the Metroplex had a net loss of 30,000 jobs from the airlines and other industries. In the past 12 months, almost 12,000 new jobs have been filled, analysts said.

"The interest rates still have a positive influence, but we're getting more and more back to the job formation," said Ted Wilson, a partner at Residential Strategies. He anticipates 40,000 new jobs for all of 2004 and more than 80,000 new jobs next year.