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#85 ·
Dallas and Houston top list of fastest growing metro areas for jobs as of June

Dallas and Houston rank among the fastest growing U.S. metro areas for jobs as of June — again. The Dallas-Fort Worth area was No.2, adding 99,000 jobs for the 12 months ended June, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. The Houston area was No. 3, with 97,700 jobs.

The New York metro area was No. 1, adding 144,800 jobs. Overall, 282 of 372 U.S. metros added jobs in the last year, 79 lost jobs and 11 saw no change. Metro data is not adjusted for seasonal variations.

Midland posted the biggest percentage gain in jobs (+6.4 percent or +5,200 jobs).

The Cleveland area saw the largest decrease in employment (-5,700), while Decatur, Ill., saw the highest percentage decrease in jobs (-4.3 percent or -2,300 jobs). Unemployment rates were lower in June than a year earlier in 272 metro areas, higher in 73 areas and the same in 27, according to BLS data. Fifty-one areas still had jobless rates of at least 10 percent.

The jobless rate for both the D-FW and Houston areas was 6.7 percent. That compared with 7.3 percent for the D-FW and 7.4 percent for Houston in June 2012.

[...]
 
#87 ·
4 Of The Top 5 Cities For Small Businesses Are In Texas



Four Texas cities topped NerdWallet’s list of the best U.S. cities for small business.

The Dallas-Fort Worth region ranked third, while Austin and San Antonio came in first and second, respectively. Houston was ranked fifth.


NerdWallet Taxes evaluated the top 20 biggest U.S. cities, examining local taxes, growth rates and licensing requirements. The list was released today.

D-FW fared well in the areas of licensing requirements and growth prospects.

Baltimore, Md.; San Jose, Calif.; Charlotte, N.C.; Indianapolis, Ind.; Jacksonville, Fla., and Phoenix, Ariz. rounded out the list.
 
#88 ·
3 Of The Top 5 metros For Construction Jobs Are In Texas



Three Texas metro areas — Dallas, Fort Worth and Houston — rank among the top metro areas that added the most construction jobs in the last year.

The Dallas-Plano-Irving area was seventh nationally for adding 6,300 construction jobs for the year ended July, according to data released today by the Associated General Contractors of America.

The Houston area was No. 1, adding 13,000 jobs in that time frame, the national trade group said. The Fort Worth area was 10th with 5,300 new construction jobs.

Overall, 201 of 339 U.S. metro areas added jobs in the last year, the most areas since March 2012, but full nationwide recovery remains elusive, association officials said.
 
#89 ·
Dallas and Houston keep ranking among fastest growing U.S. metro areas for jobs as of July

Dallas and Houston kept their ranking among the fastest growing U.S. metro areas for jobs as of July.

The New York metro area was No. 1, adding 189,400 jobs (+2.2 percent) for the 12 months ended July, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today

The Dallas-Fort Worth area was No.2, adding 111,800 jobs (+3.7 percent). The Houston area was No. 3, with 97,700 jobs (+3.6 percent).

On a smaller North Texas scale, the Dallas-Plano-Irving area added 77,500 jobs, up 3.7 percent, for the year through July. The Fort Worth-Arlington area added 34,300 jobs, up 3.8 percent.

Overall, 319 of the nation’s 372 metros added jobs in the last year, 48 lost jobs and five saw no change. Metro data is not adjusted for seasonal variations.

Midland posted the second largest percentage gain in jobs (+6.2 percent or +5,100 jobs), after the Winchester, Va. area. Odessa was No. 7, with a 5.2 percent gain from adding 3,700 jobs.
 
#91 ·
Largest federal wind farm, to be built in Texas, could save the government millions

By Anna M. Tinsley
August, 11, 2013

atinsley@star-telegram.com

Deep in the Texas Panhandle — in the heart of seemingly endless farmland — a new government venture is about to sprout.

In just days, workers will break ground on the largest federally owned wind farm in the country, geared to reduce dollars spent on energy by the millions at nearby Pantex, the nation’s only nuclear weapons assembly and disassembly facility.

“We want to be good stewards … and take advantage of the excellent wind resource we have,” said John Herrera, project manager for the National Nuclear Security Administration production office at Pantex

On secluded land about 17 miles northeast of Amarillo, workers are responding to the call that President Barack Obama made in June for government to develop homegrown energy and take steps to reduce carbon pollution.

They’ll break ground Tuesday on land across the road from Pantex, which houses thousands of the most dangerous weapons ever made, on a renewable-energy project that is expected to have five 2.3 megawatt wind turbines up and running by next summer.

As demand for energy continues to rise, Pantex joins a growing list of companies turning to alternative energy sources, such as using wind turbines to generate electrical power. Last year alone, wind energy topped the sources of new U.S. electricity generation capacity, according to a recent Energy Department report.

Read more here: http://www.star-telegram.com/2013/08/10/5071152/the-largest-federal-wind-farm.html#storylink=cpy
http://www.star-telegram.com/2013/08/10/5071152/the-largest-federal-wind-farm.html
 
#93 ·
Two Houston neighborhoods have some of highest incomes in nation

CNN Money has put Houston's West University neighborhood and the city of Bellaire on the short list of top-earning U.S. towns -- along with a gaggle of Connecticut 'burbs -- of where the affluent reside after they have "made it."

Just last week, the same publication included the Houston Heights in their countdown of the best big-city neighborhoods.

Topping the list is Scarsdale, N.Y., where wealthy Manhattan business people run to at the end of their work day, taking advantage of the half-hour train commute. Or at least a five minute ride in their solid-gold helicopter.

In third place is Hillsborough, Calif., just minutes away from San Francisco, Stanford, Silicon Valley, and the Facebook and Visa headquarters, and with a population just over 11,000. There are no commercial businesses within the town's limits, according to CNN, and no sidewalks in Hillsborough, making it a rural-feeling getaway. Median home prices are only $2.4 million, if you are interested.

,,.
..
 
#94 ·
2012 Gross Domestic Product (in $millions)

Southeastern Cities in Order:

1.) Houston, TX $449,439
2.) Dallas/Ft. Worth, TX $420,340

3.) Atlanta, GA $294,589
4.) Miami, FL $274,105
5.) Charlotte, NC $137,189
6.) Tampa, FL $119,926
7.) Orlando, FL $106,123
8.) Austin, TX $98,677
9.) Nashville, TN $94,789
10.) San Antonio, TX $91,995
11.) Virginia Beach/Norfolk, VA $84,836
12.) New Orleans, LA $84,835
13.) Richmond, VA $68,612
14.) Memphis, TN $66,778
15.) Oklahoma City, OK $63,338
16.) Louisville, KY $62,782
17.) Jacksonville, FL $62,251
18.) Raleigh, NC $61,392
19.) Birmingham, AL $58,982
20.) Tulsa, OK $47,891
21.) Baton Rouge, LA $47,709
22.) Durham, NC $39,731
23.) Greensboro, NC $36,875
24.) Knoxville, TN $35,621
25.) Little Rock, AR $34,353
26.) Columbia, SC $34,301
27.) Greenville, SC $33,358
28.) Charleston, SC $31,017
29.) El Paso, TX $29,717
30.) Winston-Salem, NC $26,887
31.) Jackson, MS $26,414
32.) Lafayette, LA $25,386
33.) Sarasota, FL $24,493
34.) Lexington, KY $23,915
35.) Beaumont, TX $23,548
36.) Chattanooga, TN $22,405
37.) Corpus Christi, TX $21,915
38.) Huntsville, AL $21,695
39.) Cape Coral, FL $20,906
40.) Augusta, GA $20,828
41.) Shreveport, LA $20,642
42.) Fayetteville, AR $20,519
43.) Fayetteville, NC $18,685
44.) Melbourne, FL $18,107
45.) Lakeland, FL $17,093
46.) Killeen, TX $16,790
47.) Mobile, AL $17,780
48.) Midland, TX $16,541
49.) Gulfport/Biloxi, MS $16,359
50.) McAllen, TX $16,025
51.) Montgomery, AL $15,425
52.) Asheville, NC $15,003
53.) Lake Charles, LA $14,719
54.) Pensacola, FL $14,555
55.) Savannah, GA $14,110
56.) Myrtle Beach, SC $14,066
57.) Roanoke, VA $13,797
58.) Naples, FL $13,652
59.) Daytona, FL $13,488
60.) Tallahassee, FL $13,385
61.) Charleston, WV $13,294
62.) Columbus, GA $12,756
63.) Hickory, NC $12,265
64.) Spartanburg, SC $12,250
65.) Crestview, FL $11,806
66.) Wilmington, NC $11,504
67.) Port St. Lucie, FL $11,500
68.) Clarksville, TN $11,470
69.) Longview, TX $11,378
70.) Houma, LA $11,181
71.) Lubbock, TX $11,110
72.) Amarillo, TX $10.761

73.) Charlottesville, VA $10,470
74.) Gainesville, FL $10,452
75.) Bristol, TN $10,373

Source: http://bea.gov/newsreleases/regional/gdp_metro/gdp_metro_newsrelease.htm
Good old El Paso, poverty city of peace! :lol:
 
#95 ·
Texas gaining billions from international homebuyers


Exterior - Front by Hernandez Imaging, on Flickr

The number of foreigners buying real estate in Texas is expected to grow significantly over time, a new report shows.

International homebuyers accounted for $6.13 billion in home sales statewide between March 2012 and March 2013, up 2 percent from the year earlier, according to the Texas Association of Realtors. The group just released its Texas International Homebuyers Report, which is based on data from the National Association of Realtors and the U.S. Census Bureau.

Texas is tied with Arizona for being the third-largest state in the U.S. for international home sales after Florida and California. “Houston is known as an international city,” said Houston real estate agent Beth Wolff, who is seeing more buyers from Mexico and China.

Latin Americans make up the largest group (51 percent) of foreign buyers statewide, followed by Asia, Canada, Africa and Europe, the report shows.
 
#97 ·
In the path

Prosper TX, You're Next!



Officials in the Collin County town of Prosper are hoping a new office project is the beginning of a commercial real estate building boom. On Monday developers will break ground on an office, medical and retail building on Preston Road.

It’s not very big – just 12,169 square feet – but Prosper officials say it’s just the start. “We feel we are at the front end of a surge in activity along Preston Road in Prosper,” says Robert Winningham, who heads Prosper’s economic development efforts. “This building will definitely set a tone for those that follow.”

The single-story commercial project was designed by architect Stephen C. Hundley and Raymond Construction is the general contractor. Inwood National Bank provided the construction financing. “As of right now there is a shortage of office space in Prosper, and this building will address some of that,” Winningham said.

Prosper is located 30 miles due north of Dallas on Preston Road. And presently it’s home to about 12,000 folks and counting.
 
#99 ·
Dallas-Fort Worth apartment leasing outpaces construction boom in the third quarter



Despite huge construction totals, demand for apartments in the Dallas-Fort Worth area outstripped supply in the third quarter.

Net apartment leasing in North Texas totaled 6,355 units – more than the 4,992 new apartments that opened their doors in the most recent quarter. The D-FW area tops the rest of the nation in both net apartment leasing and new construction, according a report released Wednesday by MPF Research.

The strong third quarter performance even surprised apartment analysts. “We expected Dallas-Fort Worth to do well given the strength of the local economy, but no one thought the market would see occupancy jump to a 12-year high while at the same time adding that many new units,” Jay Parsons with MPF Research said in the report.

At the end of September, apartment vacancy in the D-FW area was less than 6 percent. And overall apartment rents in the area were up 3.4 percent from a year ago. Currently there are 23,536 North Texas apartment units under construction – almost a third higher than the 20-year average, according to MPF Research. D-FW apartment construction is now ahead of where it was before the recession.
 
#100 ·
Telogis Expanding Austin Presence After $93M Investment



California software maker Telogis Inc. is expanding its Austin presence and adding up to 70 employees here after receiving a new $93 million investment.

Founded in 2001, the company develops software to track commercial vehicles, such as routing, work order management and navigation. It works with some of the largest vehicle makers in the world, and has deals with Ford Motor Co. and Volvo Trucks North America.
 
#103 · (Edited)
El Paso

Verde Realty in $1B merger

IDI deal with REIT creates real estate giant

Atlanta-based Industrial Developments International Inc., known as IDI, has merged with Verde Realty, a quiet real estate investment trust formed in El Paso. The deal is worth $1.1 billion.

The combination of the two industry players creates a more than $2 billion juggernaut with one of the largest portfolios of industrial and logistics facilities in North America.

By merging with Verde Realty, IDI acquires 17 million square feet of industrial space in the U.S. and Mexico, from Tijuana to McAllen, including 4.7 million square feet of space in El Paso, Juárez and nearby Santa Teresa, N.M., according to IDI president and CEO Tim Gunter.

The new company, whose headquarters will remain in Atlanta, will operate under the IDI name and will have offices in 11 U.S. cities. Verde Realty’s headquarters, which moved from El Paso to Houston in 2010, will become a regional office.

[...]
Verde already sold its Santa Teresa development in Southern New Mexico to Toronto-based Brookfield Properties earlier this year for $888 million. Brookfield later teamed up with Dallas-based Hillwood Investments (founded by Ross Perot Jr.) to buy IDI. This new combination creates an unusual funnel between Atlanta and the Southwest. Cousins Properties in Atlanta has had difficulty with projects in Albuquerque but has staked their flag in Houston with major purchases of office buildings there.
 
#104 ·
West Texas better prepared for an energy boom, railroad commissioner says

SWEETWATER — U.S. oil production for the week ending Aug. 30 averaged 7.62 million barrels per day, which is the highest weekly output of crude oil in the nation since Oct. 1989. That increase is almost exclusively because of increases in domestic shale oil production in states such as Texas.

The vast majority in a packed room at the Nolan County Coliseum nodded their heads in a gesture of pride to that news, delivered directly by Texas Railroad Commissioner Christi Craddick. She spoke about the robust energy industry in the state during the Shale Show in Sweetwater this past week. Craddick was elected to serve a six-year term in November 2012. She is native of Midland and an attorney specializing in oil and gas, water, tax issues, electric deregulation and environmental policy. “We knew the Cline Shale existed but for now is under the Spraberry Trend until somebody names it (Cline Shale),” Craddick told attendees, emphasizing the commission’s data, including drilling permits has not yet reflected the Cline Shale name.

Spraberry Trend — also known as the Spraberry Field, Spraberry Oil Field and Spraberry Formation — is a large oil field in the Permian Basin covering large parts of six counties, with a total area of about 2,500 square miles. Two-third of the oil production in Texas comes from the Permian Basin, which Craddick said contains 10 to 14 shales — unlike other areas such as Eagle Ford in South Texas that only has one shale.

The biggest buzz around nowadays is the Cline Shale, a formation roughly 140 miles north to south and 70 miles wide on the eastern flank of what is mapped as the Permian Basin, running through portions of Mitchell, Coke, Fisher, Glasscock, Howard, Irion, Nolan, Reagan, Scurry and Sterling counties. Some maps include Upton, Tom Green, Crockett and Schleider counties.

There is no doubt the oil and gas industry is the driving force in the economy in Texas: Crude oil production in the state totaled an estimated 71.1 million barrels in August, nearly 10.2 million barrels (16.7 percent) more than in August 2012, according to data from the Texas Alliance of Energy Producers.

[...]
Read more: West Texas better prepared for an energy boom, railroad commissioner says - Mywesttexas.com: Oil http://www.mywesttexas.com/business...f0c-11e3-95f8-001a4bcf887a.html#ixzz2hHSe1czR
 
#105 ·
Texas (nearly) tops for commercial real estate



Texas lost its top ranking on a list of states with the most commercial real estate development activity to New York, a new report shows.

The Lone Star state placed second, generating 162,877 jobs and $4.34 billion in new projects and spending related to commercial real estate last year, according to the NAIOP Research Foundation’s report on how office, industrial and retail development contributed to the U.S. economy in 2012. Texas ranked no. 1 a year earlier.

Nationwide, development and construction of new commercial real estate contributed $303.4 billion to the economy — up 16 percent from the year earlier — and supported about 2.3 million jobs, marking the second year that the sector posted gains since 2007.
 
#107 ·
JC Penney monthly same-store sales rise for first time since 2011


Rallying the troops at JCP headquarters in Plano.

J.C. Penney on Thursday reported its first monthly same-store sales gain in nearly two years on the back of deep discounts and the decision to resume stocking merchandise that the retailer's long-time shoppers liked.

Shares were up 4.9 percent to $8.08 in pre-market trading after the company said comparable sales rose 0.9 percent in October. (Click here to see the latest quote.)

Penney, which has been offering steep bargains to win back shoppers after a failed attempt to go upmarket in 2012 led to a 25 percent sales drop, last reported a monthly same-store sales gain in December 2011.

Chief Executive Myron Ullman attributed the improvement in part to the return of popular in-house brands including St. John's Bay, which were jettisoned by his predecessor Ron Johnson during Penney's ill-fated transformation last year.

[...]
It helps to have a CEO that actually spends time in Plano!
 
#108 ·
Economist Ray Perryman forecasts healthy growth for Texas and Dallas-Fort Worth through 2018


Everything's bigger in Texas!

Regional economist Ray Perryman today forecast that Texas and the Dallas-Fort Worth area will continue to see their economies grow faster than most other parts of the country over the next five years, but ongoing uncertainty about national fiscal and political policy could have a negative effect.

Perryman of The Perryman Group in Waco presented his economic outlook for D-FW, Texas and the nation through 2018 at the Dallas Regional Chamber’s 2013 Economic Outlook Summit in Dallas.

Here are some highlights of his outlook:

Texas

Texas’ real gross domestic product will increase 4.5 percent a year through 2018, Perryman projected, largely driven by the services, oil and gas and construction industries. The state is expected to add 1.42 million jobs in that time frame, or a 2.3 percent annual growth rate.



Dallas-Fort Worth

D-FW’s diverse industrial base and robust job creation mean it “will likely remain among the strongest [metropolitan areas] in the nation,” Perryman said.

He expects the Dallas area to add a net 295,400 jobs through 2018 the area’s real gross product to increase at an annual rate of 4.45 percent to more than $72.8 billion through 2018.

For the Fort Worth area, Perryman expects 117,700 net new jobs and the area’s real gross product to grow at an annual rate of 4.52 percent through 2018.


[...]
 
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