I spent about 24 hours in West Texas a few weeks ago getting to meet some fun agents, see some way cool real estate, and talk about getting a daltxrealestate.com set up in Midland-Odessa, where the population is growing by leaps and bounds and the housing market is about as hot as those drill bits sucking black gold out of the red clay dirt, even though the price of oil is dropping.
“The price of oil dropping is just an adjustment,” says Real Estate broker Holly Whitfield Cohen at Real estate One. “It’ll be back up in 6 months or so.”
And Midland housing prices are now the seventh highest in Texas, with this city the only West Texas market to make the cut. Boerne, a growing area located north of San Antonio, topped the Texas list with an average home price of $378,153. Austin was second with an average price of $369,509. The average home price in Midland is now $278,773.
The energy boom is fueling a huge population growth west of Fort Worth. 2013 census information released earlier this spring indicated that six of the 10 fastest-growing U.S. metropolitan areas, and eight of the 10 fastest-growing counties in the country, are located in or near the oil- and gas-rich fields of the Great Plains and Mountain West: Odessa and Midland, Texas, are listed as the second and third fastest-growing metro areas in the country. These are not large metropolises, but rather solid American towns that are overflowing with newcomers who need homes as fast as they can be built:
The population boom does come with some challenges, said Andrea Goodson, the public information coordinator in Odessa, including the need for quick improvements to city infrastructure and housing to deal with the influx of new people.
Alas, some of that boom is moderating, at least in comparison to the wild crazy ride it has been:
The area’s economic expansion from 2002 to 2008 was oil price-driven, (Amarillo economist Karr Ingham) Ingham, said, with prices soaring to near $150 a barrel in the summer of 2008 just before the global recession hit. In late 2008 and early 2009, crude prices sank to just under $40 a barrel before beginning a rapid recovery in late 2009, early 2010 and continuing through today, he said. The current economic expansion has been technology-driven, he said.
So we went out to Midland, checked out a way cool farm/vineyard/retreat. Yes, the same dry soil that gives us all that energy also grows the perfect grape. We asked Midland Realtors how much they’d like a daltxrealestate.com in Midland-Odessa.
They said, bring it on, baby!
Midland Odessa continues to pop with $1.25 billion of construction spending, $77.2 million in building permit valuations, which was a record last January and up 29.3 percent from January 2013.
Then January, 2013’s building permit valuations were more than 80 percent above January 2012.
New home construction in January 2014 outpaced January 2013 by 5.8 percent.
And this is a place where they simply cannot build homes fast enough. I saw trailer parks, nice trailer parks. And hotel rooms start at $300 a night for a simple Days Inn. The Hilton fills up FAST:
There were 201 existing homes sold in January, up 20.4 percent from 167 sold last January. The average sales price continues to rise, Ingham said, with the January average of $229,253 up 5.3 percent from the January 2013 average of $217,706.
That Amarillo economist thinks the Midland and Odessa economies will grow between 4 and 5 percent for the remainder of the year. Which is still a lot of room for housing. A
These photos were taken at Red Star Farms, one of the coolest places on the western prairie: pump jacks and Petite Syrah, Shiraz, Tempranillo and Malbec Grapes, and a wine cellar that doubles as a storm cellar. Midland is going to be a blast!
Agents of Midland, Texas
