Please note the dripping sarcasm in the title…
Wondering when we can put to bed the “oil price collapse will kill housing in Houston meme� Oil started falling in earnest in June  of 2014 and here we are over 2 years later and Houston just had the best August it’s ever had both in terms of price and sales volume. I’ve long said Houston’s 31 problem with housing was NOT oil, it was a lack of inventory. It seems builders have finally ramped up production and buyers are coming out of the woodwork to snap up homes. Inventory, at 4mos , s much better than the 3mos it has spent most of the time at in 2015-16 is still well below what would be considered equilibrium.
Expect to see continued home price appreciation and sales record should builders continue to bring homes to market. Oil is no longer the singular driver of Houston’s economy. It has a massive petrochemical complex that is growing rapidly due to cheap nat gas and medical jobs in the areas are growing almost double digits annually. Does oil matter? Yes, it is the difference between a flourishing and a flat/middling economy but it will no longer take it into a prolonged recession like it did in the 80’s. Houston’s population continue to grow, folks need a place to live…
