Real Numbers: Texas Schools Get C- in National Ranking

Texas schools aren’t failing, but they’re close, Education Week’s annual report card revealed. The biggest mark against the state seems to be no surprise — school finance (we talked more about how school finance affects the real estate world here).

Texas received a 70.6 percent ranking in total (the nation is hovering around the 74 percent mark), with a 74.1 percent (or C) on how well it sets students up to succeed, a 66.8 percent in school finance, and a 70.9 percent in K-12 achievement.

Texas’ ranking puts it in the bottom 20 states.

Texas Adds nearly 400,000 Last year

New Census data shows that Texas welcomed nearly 400,000 new residents last year, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported, which means the state’s population rose to  28,304,596 residents.

“To put that growth into perspective, that’s roughly the equivalent of adding the entire population of Arlington to the state, in just one year,” the paper added.

Half these new arrivals came buck naked — 209,690 were born in the state this year. More than 110,000 immigrated here from other countries, and 79,163 came from other states.

Dallas Area Ranked Third in National Best-Performing Cities Index

The Dallas-Plano-Irving area was ranked third in the Milken Institute’s Best-Performing Cities Index, the institute announced last week. Provo, Utah, and Raleigh, North Carolina ranked one and two, respectively.

The institute has published its index since 1999 and says it uses metrics in nine categories to evaluate the growth in metro areas. Those metrics include job growth, wage and salary growth, and technology output over time.

The Dallas metro area ranked ninth in the number of high-tech industries, 12th in job growth, and 14th in wage growth.

Housing Demand Remains Robust Statewide

Housing sales rose 6.6 percent in Texas in November, new data from the Texas A&M Real Estate Center revealed last week.

Single-family housing construction permits rose 17.2 percent, meaning they reached levels unseen since before the recession. Permits almost doubled in Fort Worth and increased 13.9 percent in Dallas. Total starts rose 11 percent year-over-year.

As for existing homes, inventory is still tight. The MOI declined in November again at 3.3 months for the statewide average, but 2.1 months and 1.9 months for Dallas and Fort Worth, respectively. New home inventories also dropped to 4.2 months and 4 months in Dallas and Fort Worth.

Demand also remained high — statewide days on market was just shy of two months. Homes priced between $200,000 and $300,000 stayed on the market 54 days on average, and homes selling for less than $200,000 averaged about two months on market. Demand was less robust for houses above $500,000, with a DOM of 86 days.

The DOM for existing homes in Dallas and Fort Worth was 34 and 33 days, respectively.