Dallas area in Top 10 of US Metros Least Touched by Recession
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX
Overall rank: 5 out of top 40
The sprawling, vibrant, and diverse metro has a major international airport, professional sports teams, and large corporations. It is home to ExxonMobil, J.C. Penney, and TXU Energy. Employment in the Dallas metro peaked in the second quarter of last year. Gross metropolitan product in the second quarter was down just 1.7% from the peak in the third quarter of 2008. Home prices grew 3% in the second quarter compared with the same period a year earlier. And the unemployment rate in June was 8.2%, up 3.1 points from a year earlier. (Please see below for the various criteria used by the Brookings Institution to determine the overall ranking.)
Job growth (since peak) rank: 13
Gross Metro Product (since peak) rank: 11
Unemployment change (year over year) rank: 32
Home price change (year over year) rank: 3
A combination of stable home prices and sizable sectors in health care, energy, government, and education kept these metropolitan areas relatively stable.
America’s strongest economies have one thing in common—home prices that never got too hot or too cold.
Home prices in metros such as San Antonio, Oklahoma City, Pittsburgh, Rochester, Little Rock, Ark., and Baton Rouge, La., remained steady through boom and bust. Although no metropolitan area entirely avoided the economic downturn, the most resilient metros were protected by a potent mix of recession-resistant jobs.
The upstate New York areas of Syracuse, Rochester, Albany, and Buffalo suffered from declining jobs in manufacturing, but got significant boosts from sizable health-care, education, and government sectors. Construction is booming in Baton Rouge, Louisiana’s capital, as firms take advantage of financing for post-Katrina hurricane recovery work and service-related companies expand to meet the needs of a growing population. Omaha and the state of Iowa have relatively strong insurance sectors.
Texas, the last state to enter recession, has been bolstered by its oil and gas industries—which have also helped Oklahoma, North Dakota, and Louisiana. Texas also has many other things going for it, including affordable home prices and relatively low wages, which attract corporations.
BusinessWeek.com used data and analysis from the Brookings Institution’s new MetroMonitor to come up with the nation’s 40 strongest economies. The MetroMonitor, which measures the nation’s health on a quarterly basis, ranks the top 100 metros based on job growth, unemployment, gross metropolitan product, and home prices.
A 22-year unemployment high in Texas
Although the metros in the ranking are strong by relative standards, their unemployment rates in many cases are now peaking because they entered the recession late. Texas, which had 5 metros in our top 10, including No. 1 San Antonio, is a good example.
The unemployment rate in Texas hit 8.2% in September, rising above 8% for the first time in 22 years. But that’s a very low unemployment rate, compared to the national rate of 9.8% or to Nevada’s 13.3% rate.
Texas is unlikely to face a prolonged downturn, said Terry Clower, an economist at the University of North Texas. The state’s affordable cost of living make it attractive to new residents and corporations, the largest of which tend to be based near Houston and Dallas.
“It’s perceived as a low-cost place to do business,” Clower said. “Because housing is affordable, the wage rates reflect that.”
Marisa Di Natale, a director at Moody’s Economy.com, said late arrivals to the recession will generally face mild downturns.
These metros “haven’t had a big erosion in housing wealth, which has kept consumer spending stronger than it would otherwise be,” Di Natale said.
Source: Business Week
Read MoreTexas Existing Home Sales and Prices UP!
A total of 18,643 existing single-family homes were sold in Texas last month, a 4 percent increase from September 2008, according to MLS data compiled by the Real Estate Center at Texas A&M University.
The median price rose 2 percent to $147,900 during the same period, and the state finished the month with a 7.1-month inventory of existing homes.
Here is how select Texas cities fared in August (data current as of Oct. 23, 2009):
| Sales | Change from Last Year |
Median Price |
Change from Last Year |
Months’ Inventory |
|
| Austin | 1,974 | up 8% | $182,700 | no change | 6.4 |
| Beaumont | 146 | up 76% | $131,400 | down 3% | 8.9 |
| Bryan–College Station | 128 | down 12% | $152,500 | up 8% | 7 |
| Dallas | 4,010 | down 7% | $156,400 | up 4% | 6.3 |
| El Paso | 485 | up 8% | $130,000 | down 3% | 8.7 |
| Fort Worth | 744 | down 13% | $112,500 | down 4% | 6.7 |
| Houston | 5,315 | up 31% | $155,600 | no change | 6.5 |
| Lubbock | 248 | no change | $111,000 | down 2% | 5.5 |
| San Antonio | 1,604 | down 3% | $146,700 | up 2% | 8.1 |
| Wichita Falls | 106 | down 24% | $121,100 | up 35% | 7.5 |
Meanwhile, the National Association of Realtors reported today that, nationally, year-over-year sales of existing homes were up 9.2 percent last month. The median price of homes sold in September was $174,900, down 8.5 percent from last year.
Source: Real Estate Center, CNNMoney.com
Read MoreHOUSING VALUES RISE
Only four U.S. housing markets experienced an increase in value during January, and three of those were in Texas, according to a survey released Monday.
First American CoreLogic reports that Austin–Round Rock saw a 3.9 percent increase in housing market value.
Houston–Sugar Land–Baytown reported a 3.6 percent increase and Dallas-Plano-Irving home values jumped 1.5 percent.
Throughout Texas, home prices were up by just under 2 percent.
By comparison, home prices nationwide fell 11.6 percent in January compared to a year ago.
Source: Dallas Morning News
Read MoreTWO TEXAS CITIES TOPS FOR CORPORATE GROWTH
Houston landed the top spot on Site Selection magazine’s list of top metro rankings for corporate location and expansion activity. Dallas–Fort Worth–Arlington was right behind at number two.
According to the magazine, Houston owes its success to its domination in the energy sector and its ability to land huge technology deals. The city scored 179 corporate real estate deals in 2008, according to Site Selection.
Dallas–Fort Worth–Arlington finished 2008 with 156 projects. Coming in third was Chicago with 138.
Source: Houston Business Journal
Read MoreDallas Home Sales Rise
Texas had an overal decline of 10.4% in home sales over 2007, but Dallas has seen an increase:
• 4,043 homes sold (3.2 percent increase)
• Median price of $153,300 (3.5 percent decrease)
• 6.4-month inventory
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