The June 2008 Issue of Newsweek Magazine had a great article on the economy of Houston, entitled "Houston, We Have No Problems."
Highlights from the article include:
- "To find a hot spot where soaring oil and commodity prices, and the booming economies of the developing world, are keeping cash registers ringing and construction crews fully employed, you don't have to trek to Dubai or Moscow. You need travel only as far as Houston
- "In May, the unemployment rate in the nation's sixth largest metropolitan area was a measly 3.8 percent."
- "In the past year, Houston-based companies, which include 26 Fortune 500 firms, added 71,000 jobs to their payrolls. "
- "Houston's good fortune is largely a function of the current oil boom. But this isn't the type of gusher that led to busts in 1981 and 1986. Instead, Houston is experiencing a 21st-century boom fueled by a weak dollar and global growth."
- "Exports are rising because Houston has become a sort of Silicon Valley for the global energy industry."
- "Houston has 70,000 engineers and architects (a concentration 60 percent higher than is typical for the United States). The oil boom and weak dollar are boosting demand for their services, and engineering and construction firms like KBR and Fluor are applying their expertise to power plants and sewage facilities around the world."
Highlights about the Houston Real Estate Market from the article include:
- "The excess office space disgorged onto the market after Enron's bust was quickly absorbed. Chevron took over both Enron's old headquarters and the new building it was constructing."
- "The residential market, which avoided a bubbly run-up . . . has remained buoyant."
- "Development is rampant, from $200,000 single-family homes in suburban planned communities to $1.4 million town houses that have replaced student apartment buildings near Rice University."
- "In 2001, when Enron imploded, 100 of the 1,600 homes in River Oaks . . . were on the market . . . Today there are only 30 brick mansions for sale in River Oaks."
To see a full copy of the article, click here.
