Strictly a Buyer's Agent

Forbes Article Ranks Houston as the 9th Best City in the World for Real Estate Investment

Forbes' rankings come from the Association of Foreign Investors in Real Estate, a research association that tracks where member investors are finding the best opportunities around the world. Its 200 members, who collectively hold $700 billion in real estate, have provided the following list of cities worldwide with the best investment opportunities:
1. Washington
2. London
3. New York
4. Tokyo
5. Shangai
6. San Francisco
7. Los Angeles
8. Paris
9. Houston (from 32nd last year)
10. Sinapore

Read more here.

Houston Job Growth, Unemployment, Housing Starts, and Cancelled Projects

Not all the news is bad in Houston since it continues to outperform most other cities in job growth, and unemployment. For the year Nov '07-Nov '08 Houston's economy grew at a 2.1% rate and unemployment was only 5.5%. Housing starts are projected by the Greater Houston Builder's Association for 2009 at 20,000-25,000, down from the peak in 2006 of 50,000.

There has been news of several cancelled or delayed residential construction projects in recent days: Titan, High Street, Sonoma, 1717 Bissonnet, Turnberry Tower, Hanover Tower, BLVD Place. Some of the cancellations are due to lack of financing, others to lack of demand.