Save On A New Home Blog » economic study

Texas Adds More Than 100k Jobs

admin — Sun, 03 Oct 2010 15:58:31 +0000

According to the Real Estate Center at College Station, Texas added 133,100 jobs to its economy from August 2009 to August 2010. This resulted in an annual growth rate of 1.3 percent. Though the United States also saw an increase in jobs over this same period, adding 278,000 jobs, it did not keep pace with Texas’ growth, posting only a 0.2 percent increase. Twenty-four Texas metro areas saw a positive employment growth rate from August 2009 to August 2010. This was up from only 19 metro areas for the July 2009 to July 2010 period.

The metro area of Sherman-Denison (an area just north of Dallas) led the state with a 3.6 percent growth rate. This was followed by San Angelo, the Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos area, Odessa, Tyler, the Killeen-Temple-Fort Hood area, and College Station/Bryan which all saw a percent growth rate of at least 2.0 percent. Dallas ranked twelfth showing a 1.2 percent growth rate with the San Antonio-New Braunfels area posting only a 0.1 percent increase. The Houston area showed no growth.

Despite the increase in jobs, Texas’ unemployment rate still rose, posting a 0.3 percent gain over last August. The unemployment rate for the state rose from 8 percent in August 2009 to 8.3 percent in August 2010 while the country’s unemployment rate actually decreased from 9.7 to 9.6 percent for the same period of time.

Overall, employment rates are beginning to creep up, with Texas ahead of the nations’ curve as far as job production. Despite the data, many Americans are still unemployed, facing foreclosure and are struggling to manage in a continued weak economy. An unemployment rate over 8 percent still ushers in many desperate people without work or a true vision of employment in the near future. It will be many years before the country, including Texas, will be able to recover from these faintly optimistic yet rather gloomy employment numbers.

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Everything’s Bigger in Texas, Including Business

admin — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 22:26:01 +0000

In CNBC’s recent study, Top States For Business 2010, Texas came out on top for 2010. Texas posted the highest total points in the history of the study, allowing it to reclaim the top spot over number two Virginia, which was number one last year. The points are based on “40 different metrics in ten key categories” and the categories are weighted as follows according to the CNBC study:

* Cost of Doing Business (450 points)

* Workforce (350 points)

* Quality of Life (350 points)

* Economy (314 points)

* Transportation & Infrastructure (300 points)

* Technology & Innovation (250 points)

* Education (175 points)

* Business Friendliness (175 points)

* Access to Capital (50 points)

* Cost of Living (25 points)

After the points were tallied, Texas ranked number one followed by Virginia, Colorado, North Carolina, and Massachusetts at number five. Rounding out the bottom five were West Virginia, Nevada, Hawaii, Rhode Island, and Alaska at number 50.

According to government figures, the Texas economy is ranked 15th in the world, bigger than many countries. It is also home to 64 companies in the Fortune 500, more than any other state. Big business helped Texas’ economy rise to the top. That along with many other factors including a more stable real estate market has helped Texas appeal to big businesses.

Despite the fact that the state still has a multi-billion dollar deficit to wrestle, the business economy is healthy and the Real Estate Center at Texas A&M recently reported that Texas has seen positive employment growth in many parts of the state along with job growth in many industries in the state.

For more information on the study, visit: http://www.cnbc.com/id/37642856

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Houston Housing Market Shines

admin — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 15:34:33 +0000

If you’ve been watching the housing market, you might notice that some areas of the United States are still seeing record numbers of foreclosures. Though Houston has its share of foreclosures, the percent of the foreclosure market shares are about half of what they were this time last year, according to the Houston Association of Realtors (HAR). That said, HAR reported that first time home buyers boosted Houston home sales and a recent study by Brookings ranked Houston number one for change in housing price index from 2nd quarter 2008 to 2nd quarter 2009. It gained almost 5%.

So this means Houston is one of the healthiest housing markets out there right now. New construction of homes, townhomes and condominiums is very active and there are lots of options for homebuyers. If you are in the market for a home, Houston and some of its surrounding areas such as Baytown, SugarLand and The Woodlands may be just what your economic pocket book needs right now. Good deals still abound, but you can sleep well at night knowing your new Houston home is a sound economic investment.

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Three Texas Cities Hit Top 10 in Economic Study

admin — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 15:51:53 +0000

A recent Brookings Institution analysis comparing 2nd quarter 2008 data with 2009 data ranked three Texas metro areas as tops when measuring increases in inflation-adjusted home prices.

The Houston area (including Sugar Land and Baytown areas) ranked number one out of 100 largest metro areas, revealing an increase of 4.9%. The Dallas area (including Fort Worth and Arlington) ranked 3rd in the study, with San Antonio rounding out the top 10 at number 10 with a price increase of 3.1%.

This “economic report card” indicates that the housing market prices have bottomed out and are rebounding in many metro areas including the biggest Texas cities.