Austin #1 - America's Fastest Growing Cities (Forbes)

If you haven't heard, Austin is getting bigger.... 

Texas State Capitol

Forbes rated the 100 largest MSAs based on Population Growth, 2012 Job Growth, Rate of Economic Growth (gross metro product growth). They also used federal Unemployment Data & Median Salary data.  They came up with their list of the 20 fastest growing metro areas in the US.  Texas leads the nation, again!  This is GOOD for Real Estate - but not so great for traffic.  ;}

"Perhaps not surprisingly, cities in Texas — which welcomed more than 427,000 newcomers from August 2011 to July 2012, according to the U.S. Census Bureau — dominated our list. Houston ranked second, behind Austin, followed by Dallas in third place and San Antonio in ninth. Robust labor markets, unemployment rates under 6% (well below the national average),no state income tax, a business-friendly regulatory environment, and strong population inflows all contributed to Texas towns’ high rankings."

1) Austin, TX

• M.S.A.: Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos, TX
• 2012 Population growth rate: 2.8%
• 2013 Population growth rate: 2.7%
• Job growth rate: 3.1%
• Unemployment: 4.9%Gross Metro Product: 6.3%
• Median salary: $63,200

2) Houston, TX

• M.S.A.: Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown, TX
• 2012 Population growth rate: 2%
• 2013 Population growth rate: 2%
• Job growth rate: 3.4%
• Unemployment: 5.8%
• Gross Metro Product: 6.8%
• Median salary: $70,900

3) Dallas, TX

• M.S.A.: Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX
• 2012 Population growth rate: 2.1%
• 2013 Population growth rate: 2.1%
• Job growth rate: 2.1%
• Unemployment:5.7%
• Gross Metro Product: 5.9%
• Median salary: $65,100

4) Raleigh, NC
5) Salt Lake City, UT
6) Seattle, WA
7) Provo, UT
8) Phoenix, AZ

9) San Antonio, TX

• M.S.A.: San Antonio-New Braunfels, TX
• 2012 Population growth rate: 2.1%
• 2013 Population growth rate: 2%
• Job growth rate: 2%
• Unemployment: 5.6%
• Gross Metro Product: 4.1%
• Median salary: $56,900

10) Portland, OR
11) Washington, DC
12) San Jose, CA
13) San Diego, CA
14) San Francisco, CA
15) Boise, ID
16) Denver, CO
17) Oklahoma City, OK
18) Charlotte, NC
19) Bakersfield, CA
20) Ogden, UT


Full Text of Forbes.com Article

Austin Tops List of The 10 Best Cities For Job Seekers

Austin, Texas, emerged as the best city for job seekers, with explosive population growth and a below average unemployment rate. It also features a low cost of living–renting a two-bedroom apartment, for example, averages just $968 a month.

“If a city is growing quickly, there’s an underlying ripple effect of more companies and a greater need for services,” says Stephanie Wei, VP of Financial Literacy at NerdWallet. “Austin is becoming a tech hub. IBM andDell are there, and it’s attracting more biotechnology businesses.”

In fact, five of the top 10 cities are located in Texas. Not only does the state generally feature a low cost of living, but Wei says its cities have done a nice job differentiating themselves. Houston, Fort Worth, Dallas and San Antonio are all up-and-coming hubs for niche industries like telecom and bioscience.

No. 1: Austin, TX
Population Growth: 3.8%
Unemployment Rate: 6.2%
Median Income: $31,170
Median Rent: $968

No. 2: Washington, DC
Population Growth: 2.7%
Unemployment Rate: 10.2%
Median Income: $43,993
Median Rent: $1,823

No. 3: San Francisco, CA
Population Growth: 0.9%
Unemployment Rate: 8.6%
Median Income: $46,777
Median Rent: $2,702

No. 4: Denver, CO
Population Growth: 3.3%
Unemployment Rate: 9.1%
Median Income: $32,051
Median Rent: $931

No. 5: Houston, TX
Population Growth: 2.2%
Unemployment Rate: 8.2%
Median Income: $26,849
Median Rent: $1,311

No. 6: Fort Worth, TX
Population Growth: 2.3%
Unemployment Rate: 8.0%
Median Income: $24,270
Median Rent: $980

No. 7: Dallas, TX
Population Growth: 2.1%
Unemployment Rate: 8.5%
Median Income: $27,251
Median Rent: $792

No. 8: Seattle, WA     
Population Growth: 2.0%
Unemployment Rate: 7.5%
Median Income: $41,695
Median Rent: $1,417

No. 9: San Antonio, TX
Population Growth: 2.4%
Unemployment Rate: 7.4%
Median Income: $22,333
Median Rent: $823

No. 10: Charlotte, NC
Population Growth: 2.7%
Unemployment Rate: 9.2%
Median Income: $31,667
Median Rent: $790

Full Forbes Article
NerdWallet Article

Austin Ranked #2 in Cities w/ New & Sustained Job Growth

Best-Performing Cities 2012 
 - Where America's Jobs are Created & SustainedRoss DeVol, Armen Bedroussian, and Yu (Lydia) Liu
January 17, 2013
http://bestcities.milkeninstitute.org/

"The Milken Institute's annual index of Best-Performing Cities indicates that tech is back, especially in the world's best-known hub of innovation. The United States' best-performing metro area is San Jose, the capital of Silicon Valley. Other cities with strong exposure to technological innovation scored high in the new ranking: Austin, Texas (No. 2, up from fourth place); Raleigh, N.C. (No. 3, up from No. 14); the Washington, D.C., metro (No. 5 from No. 17); and Cambridge, Mass. (No. 8 from No. 12).

San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, Calif., vaulted 50 spots from last year to No. 1, a position it last held on the index in 2001. San Jose's recovery has spread through the region's economy: For each job added in the tech sector, five jobs are created in other industries. For example, Apple has an estimated 34,000 employees in the metro area but is responsible for another 170,000 jobs in the region."

LARGE METRO CITIES:

1) San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA (2011 ranking: 51)
2) Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos, TX 2 (2011 ranking: 4)
3) Raleigh-Cary, NC 3 (2011 ranking: 14)
4) Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown, TX 4 (2011 ranking: 16)
5) Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV 5 (2011 ranking: 17)
6) Salt Lake City, UT 6 (2011 ranking: 6)
7) Provo-Orem, UT 7 (2011 ranking: 9)
8) Cambridge-Newton-Framingham, MA 8 (2011 ranking: 12)
9) Charleston-North Charleston-Summerville, SC 9 (2011 ranking: 11)
10) Fort Worth-Arlington, TX 10 (2011 ranking: 24)

"Unlike other "best places" rankings, it does not use quality-of-life metrics, such as commute times or housing costs. In the Institute's index, employment growth is weighted most heavily due to its critical importance to community vitality. Wage and salary growth measures the quality of jobs created and sustained."



Download the full report to see the best small and medium cites.
http://www.VioletCrownRealEstate.com/news/Best-Performing-Cities-Report-2012.pdf

Apartments a HOT Commodity in Austin!!

Austin has one of the hottest rental markets in the state.

According to ALN Apartment Data, Inc. it's tougher to find an apartment here than pretty much any other city and you'll pay more for it here too...

...“It's very different out there now,” said Natalie Young, manager at A Plus Apartment Locators. “The days of free TVs and free months, they're not there as much because they don't have to give that away they're able to fill them without that."

Young says in this market, renters have to move fast.

...Companies including Visa, Apple and General Motors are bringing more than 2,200 new jobs to Austin and the flood of people moving to the area means apartments are a hot commodity.

“When you see an apartment, if you like it you need to rent it. Because if you don't the next day or even that same day, it could be gone,” Young said. “At anytime, a place might only have 10 empty apartments. It's a tight market.”

The good news is new complexes are going up quickly, especially in North and Northwest Austin.

...Austin added 848 units in the past 12 months. At least another 2,100 will be built within the next two years, and these new places to live won't come cheap.

“We need them faster than they're even building them right now,” Young said.

“I'd say on average a two-bedroom apartment would lease for around a thousand dollars, that's average of course, and it's all based on what part of town you're in,” Young said.

According to Young, Central Austin, the 78704 area and downtown are the most desirable places that renters want to live and the most expensive. 

Full Article

by QUITA CULEPEPPER / KVUE News and photojournalist SCOTT McKENNEY

kvue.com

Posted on January 7, 2013 at 6:22 PM

Updated Monday, Jan 7 at 10:41 PM