- Houston On Track To Log $11.6B in Commercial Real Estate Sales This Year, Down from $12.3B in 2014 [Houston Chronicle]
- Pair of Century-Old Downtown Buildings, Pecan Tree Coming Down To Make Way for Lancaster Hotel Parking Lot [Houston Chronicle; previously on Swamplot]
- Amirex Capital Services Buys Baytown Retail Center Baytown Plaza [Realty News Report]
- University of Houston Information Center at Energy Research Park Moves Forward [HBJ]
- Home Inventory Grows as Sales Slow in Houston, According to Redfin [HBJ]
- Homes Selling Quickly in Houston’s First ‘Agrihood’ Harvest Green [HBJ]
- New Icehouse Eight Row Flint Opening in Former Citgo Station at Yale and W. 11th Soon [Culturemap; previously on Swamplot]
- Meat-Centric Bacon Bros. Public House Planning To Open First Houston Franchise Next Year [HBJ]
- Kenny & Ziggy’s Opening New Restaurant in Former Fish City Grill in Plaza in the Park Shopping Center [Culturemap; previously on Swamplot]
- What the Interest Rate Hike Might Mean for Houston [Houston Chronicle]
- State Approves Controversial, $600M Power-Line Project To Feed More Electricity into the Houston Area [Houston Chronicle]
- $1B in Disaster Relief Funds from Hurricanes Ike, Dolly Still Unspent 7 Years Later in Texas [Houston Chronicle]
- Harris County Has Lost More Than 30% of Its Coastal Prairie Wetlands Since 1992 [Houston Chronicle]
- The Art Works Taking Over the Temporary Wall at the Glassell School of Art Construction Site [#FutureMFAH]
Photo of the Chase Tower Observation Deck: Bill Barfield via Swamplot Flickr Pool
Headlines
It’s not really a buyer’s market. At least in my neighborhood, inventory is way down and the remaining houses are holding firm on high prices or converting to being rental units. The good funds available during the oil boom just aren’t there. The pricing has shifted permanently north.
*finds
–
Inventory is so low that everyone is milking what they have for top dollar
I think the current state of re is more an issue of people not yet ready to accept reality. Just like how those of us in upstream o&g kept thinking prices are about to recover “in a few months”… however, we are all slowly beginning to see that is likely not the case. Home price drops will soon follow. You already see them in a lot of the burbs, they just have to slowly make their way in as the state of the local economy offsets lower inventory levels. Best case for inside the loop is prices stay flat or retract only slightly like in 09/10. This time looks like it could get more interesting though.
Two beautiful brick buildings 110 years old and a 6 story pecan tree just as old, all coming down for a parking lot…ah whatever.
Yep, two completely unique buildings are being demoed for parking lots, yet hundreds of identical bungalows are being preserved.
.
Welcome to Houston.
.
Then again, they are unremarkable buildings, and where they are, they are very much not part of anything noteworthy (much like all the bungalows in the historical districts, but whatever).
Re: Controversial $600M Power Line
.
An interesting read that CenterPoint (our distributor) is fighting NRG (one of the power generators) and Calpine over the HIP (Houston Import Project). On one hand, NRG was going to build a big gas-fired generating plant and, with natural gas prices dirt cheap, this seems like it would be good for them and good for the consumer. On the other hand, the power line could be ready by 2018 and funnel lots of electricity for the future population growth.
.
I honestly don’t know which proposal is better but I’m dubious that CenterPoint’s estimate of 35-40 cents/month increase to cover the cost will be true.
What a waste! The coastal prairies will soon be gone and few will remember them. Everyone will say ‘well Houston doesn’t have much in the way of natural environment anyway but at least it has affordable housing compared to a lot of cities and Oh yeah and it is hot but we stay inside most of the time so who cares about the outside world.’ Maybe Houstonians should be the first to move to Mars or the Moon. (Hopefully) there aren’t any irreplaceable ecosystems to replace with big box stores, suburban homes, and highways!
How much of an exhale in the housing market are we looking at? Like a quiet, normal breath or knocking the wind out?