Texas survived the worst of the real estate crisis and remains an economic powerhouse compared to other states with its existing home sales rising at an annual pace of 15% in the past two months, the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas said Thursday.
Residential building permits also shot up at an annual pace of 33.7% during the two-month period ending in October, the Fed Bank said.
The supply of existing homes on the market in Texas is down to a 5.1-month supply, the lowest level recorded since March of 2007.
So what does this all mean for the Lone Star State? Essentially, the state’s real estate market is reflective of its favorable job growth numbers, which have been buoyed by strength in Texas’ energy sector and upticks in new construction.
The state continues to outperform other regions with the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas saying “2012 will likely go down in the record books as a pretty strong year for Texas.” The Fed bank claims jobs growth will come in around 3.2% while the unemployment rate in Texas fell to 6.6% in October, which is well below the national rate that still hovers above 7%.
“The forecast for 2013 is for economic growth to continue at a fairly strong pace as energy extraction growth subsides, export growth remains weak, government growth is stable at a low rate and construction activity continues to improve,” the Dallas Fed Bank said. “The jobs forecasting model is currently forecasting between 2.2% and 2.5% job growth for 2013 but, making adjustments for past under predictions during expansion periods, the forecast rises to about 3.0%. Overall, job growth is likely to be somewhere in the range of 2% to 3%.”
