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7 of Forbes' Top 10 Recession-Proof Cities in South; OKC is #1

3045 Views 13 Replies 13 Participants Last post by  SRG, 
S
http://www.forbes.com/2008/04/29/ci...z_0429realestate_slide_2.html?thisSpeed=20000

And of course, OKC is #1.

1. Oklahoma City, Okla.
Median home price: +8.2%

Unemployment: 3.5% (from 4.7% in February 2007)

Key growth: Leisure and hospitality, +6%; construction +11.5% from 2007

Did someone say something about a recession? With falling unemployment, one of the strongest housing markets in the country, and strong growth in agriculture, energy and manufacturing, Oklahoma City might not have received the recession memo, and it looks best positioned of the nation's metropolitan areas to ride out the current crisis. Booming valuations of Oklahoma City's largest companies, like Devon Energy and Chesapeake Energy, suggest the energy sector is the right place to be.



FYI, unemployment in OKC is now at 3.3%. OKC and Tulsa are tied there. Lowest unemployment of every major US metropolitan area.
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krazeeboi
2. San Antonio
3. Austin
4. San Jose
5. Raleigh
6. Salt Lake City
7. Houston
8. Seattle
9. Charlotte
10. Dallas-Fort Worth

As usual, Texas fares well.
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Seattlelife
Hey that's great man. It's a COMPLETELY opposite perspective on OKC compared to the other thread you posted about OKC being a top place NOT to live.

I think it just tells you a little about the reliability of these polls. lol.

Whether or not the Sonics move to OKC (which I think will happen as long as Bennett remains the owner) OKC has definitely been putting itself on the map the last few years simply with all the NBA publicity. You may think getting a team is what it will take to get recognition for you city but I can assure the recognition has already begun.

Also, I think it's interesting that Houston, Seattle :), and Dallas are the only large metro areas on the list. The rest are small to mid size metros. Wow, and the majority of them are in the south.
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TU 'cane
Seattlelife, :eek:kay:
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shane453
Luckily Forbes is generally considered to be more reliable.

According to an article in today's Oklahoman, this Forbes ranking has helped OKC Public Schools secure a low interest rate (less than 3%) on a recent $25 million bond. So that kind of goes to show that stuff like this really can have some positive effects for entities within the cities that are on the list.
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C
Honestly, any list of this sort that leaves New Orleans out loses a little credibility. I'm trying not to be biased, and I realize that our economy might be a "false economy" right now due to recovery, but it is worth noting. Unemployment around 4%. Still heavily involved in oil and refining. Billions in reconstruction, etc... But I guess it is hard to quantify. But all I know is that we aren't feeling one bit of this recession. And as history shows, Louisiana's economy has an inverse relationship with the national economy, mostly due to oil prices.

But that list does make sense... especially the Texas cities and OKC due to the energy sector.
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M
Raleigh and Charlotte are having fun with these top 10 rankings. :lol:
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Trae
Cannonized said:
Honestly, any list of this sort that leaves New Orleans out loses a little credibility. I'm trying not to be biased, and I realize that our economy might be a "false economy" right now due to recovery, but it is worth noting. Unemployment around 4%. Still heavily involved in oil and refining. Billions in reconstruction, etc... But I guess it is hard to quantify. But all I know is that we aren't feeling one bit of this recession. And as history shows, Louisiana's economy has an inverse relationship with the national economy, mostly due to oil prices.

But that list does make sense... especially the Texas cities and OKC due to the energy sector.
Click to expand...
This list does not lose any credibility for leaving New Orleans out. For all we know, New Orleans could have been #11.
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P
It's amazing that Charlotte is doing well despite its financial services industry isn't doing too well. However Charlotte is more than just Bank of America and Wachovia. Its home prices haven't suffer, however home sales are slowing down. Raleigh is pretty much immuned due to its large industry of healthcare and research.
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N
Cannonized said:
Honestly, any list of this sort that leaves New Orleans out loses a little credibility. I'm trying not to be biased, and I realize that our economy might be a "false economy" right now due to recovery, but it is worth noting. Unemployment around 4%. Still heavily involved in oil and refining. Billions in reconstruction, etc... But I guess it is hard to quantify. But all I know is that we aren't feeling one bit of this recession. And as history shows, Louisiana's economy has an inverse relationship with the national economy, mostly due to oil prices.

But that list does make sense... especially the Texas cities and OKC due to the energy sector.
Click to expand...
Have you forgotten that the Katrina effect is still having an impact on New Orleans and it's economy? I would find it very strange to classify NO as recession-proof when the city is still trying to recover from that disaster.
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Hia-leah JDM
SRG said:
FYI, unemployment in OKC is now at 3.3%. OKC and Tulsa are tied there. Lowest unemployment of every major US metropolitan area.
Click to expand...
From that list alone Salt Lake City has a lower unemployment rate.
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Classof2010
^^ yup, but....Salt Lake City's unemployment is rising. It said the second lowest unemployment rate is Washington D.C, but they kept it off the list because home prices were falling.
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S
ncnative said:
Have you forgotten that the Katrina effect is still having an impact on New Orleans and it's economy? I would find it very strange to classify NO as recession-proof when the city is still trying to recover from that disaster.
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Actually it's because of Katrina that New Orleans is recession proof:

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/business/5676210.html
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S
Alright, I looked into it on Jobs.AOL. There are a lot of podunk towns in MT, SD, ND, etc with really low unemployment.

1. Salt Lake
2. Washington metro
3. Des Moines
4. OKC/Tulsa
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