I recently heard Steve Brown, real estate reporter for the Dallas Morning News, speak at Collin County Day. He had some interesting statistics that I thought I should share.
1. DFW created 63,700 jobs in the last 12 months. An additional 100,000 jobs are forecast for the next 12 months. These jobs are heavily concentrated in the major cities, of course.
2. Texas continues to be a favorite destination for people relocating within the United States. Here is the largest contributing states: California (68,909 people), Louisiana (31,149), Florida (26,608), Oklahoma and Illinois (no numbers for these last two). I believe these numbers are for the prior 12 months.
3. DFW has the second-highest amount of construction activity in the US behind New York.
4. Housing is actually in short supply in DFW with only 3-4 months' supply. 6 months is considered a balanced market.
5. Only 1.8% of homes in Texas are in foreclosure - one of the lowest in the country. Florida, on the other hand, has 14% in foreclosure. I'm not sure if these percentages are the current numbers or the total percentages since the economic crisis started in 2008. I suspect it's the latter.
So the bottom line is that DFW is still the place people want to be. We are seeing the impact of all this on the commercial real estate market. Rental rates are rising fast in the areas where people really want to have an office - Uptown and along the Tollway in Plano. For tenants, now is the time to renew your lease early and lock in for as long as your business plan allows. A building in which I placed a client only 18 months ago is now quoting $5.00 per square foot per year more than when we did the deal. That's fast.
Please let me know if I can help anyone you know who has an office lease in the DFW area. Thanks.
Comments (6)Subscribe to CommentsComment