If you want to know why growth in Texas real estate markets is outpacing other states, look no further than our great state’s unemployment rate. Like a mushroom that sprouts overnight, Texas’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate is 6.5 percent — an entire percentage point lower than the national average, according to the Real Estate Center at Texas A&M University.
Job growth, combined with a healthy financial sector that leads in high-paying jobs, means that more people will be able to afford a mortgage. That’s the conclusion you’re supposed to draw from the report compiled by economists Mark Dotzour and Ali Anari.
But while Dallas real estate is selling like hotcakes, I was surprised that the Dallas-Plano-Irving area only ranked sixth in job growth, with Midland and Odessa in first and second place, Fort Worth-Arlington in third, Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos in fourth, and Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown in fifth.
Bone up on the statistics in every market by reading the full report on the Real Estate Center’s website.
