Texas home prices holding steady
The good news for Texas homesellers is that prices are holding. That’s in stark contrast to what’s happening in other parts of the country. Texas’ real estate markets never caught the housing bust bug that spread like the flu across most of the United States. “Getting back to normal” is how many real estate people describe today’s Texas market. The Real Estate Center agrees with that diagnosis.
Compared to other markets across the country, Texas is still sitting pretty in many ways. By comparison, there are entire condo buildings in Miami that are empty – with not a single unit sold – and single-family homes in various phases of construction across Florida and Arizona, all shells waiting to be completed.
We’re not seeing that in Texas, nor do forecasters expect to see that degree of downturn. That’s because, according to Jim Gaines, Ph.D., research economist for the Real Estate Center at Texas A&M, we’ve got a lot of positive economic factors going for us, including affordability, reasonable cost of living, low overall cost of doing business, ample employment opportunities, and – the reason why a lot of us are Texans – a great lifestyle. Jim Gaines, Ph.D., keeps his finger on the pulse of the state’s major housing markets. If one market misses a beat, he knows it.
“Events and circumstances point toward a Texas-sized boom between now and 2030,” says Gaines. “The state’s population and economy – as well as its housing and commercial real estate markets – are poised to explode in volume and prices. Job growth is expected to be stimulated by overall U.S. economic growth and enhanced by Texas’ employment-friendly characteristics.”
Austin’s Dugg Tankersley echoes the positive outlook of many experts, putting the current Texas real estate market in perspective. “We’ve been doing 90 miles per hour for so long,” he says. “Now we’re at 65 miles per hour, but that’s still pretty fast.”
-David S. Jones
David S. Jones is communications director and senior editor with the Real Estate Center at Texas A&M University
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