Texas Economy Cools Off … Slightly

I received an update from the Real Estate Center at Texas A&M University this morning and just want to pass it on. Here are some highlights:

• “The U.S. and Texas economies will continue to expand in 2019 but at noticeably decelerated rates.”
• Texas employment growth should continue at almost twice the pace of U.S employment — 2.7% vs. 1.5%.
• “The Texas housing market slowed in 2018 as sales rose 1.7 percent compared with 4.1 the previous year.”
• “Housing permits for new single-family residential units are expected to slow to a 2.1 percent increase ….” [But permits in the Austin area are forecast to increase by almost 10%!]

If you want more details, here is the complete update report:

2019 Texas Housing and Economic Outlook

I attended another meeting today about the economic outlook for the U.S. and Austin.  More on that soon.