“What’s The GOOD News?” January 2019

“What’s The GOOD News?”

January 2019

1.*   Louisiana-based exercise chain Regymen Fitness will start expanding its reach into North Texas this year. The chain hopes to open up to 22 franchises within the next three to six years. Nick Bennings, the director for franchise development, said the company has identified the Metroplex as the next place for growth based on the demographics and the pace at which the area is growing, both in population and income. Regymen is negotiating with two franchise owners. and the first studios could open as soon as September in Alliance. Bennings said they’re also looking in Lewisville, Coppell and Southlake.

2.*   A new study ranks Plano as one of the best locations in the U.S. to hunt for work. The study, conducted by personal finance website WalletHub, places Plano at No. 7 among the best cities for finding a job. Plano was the only DFW city in the top 20. To determine the strongest local job markets in the U.S., WalletHub compared more than 180 cities across 30 key metrics, including availability of jobs, employment growth, and monthly average starting salary. A major reason for Plano’s attractiveness to job seekers stems from the sheer number of major corporate employers located there. Here are the WalletHub job rankings for other DFW cities in Texas: Irving, No. 21; Dallas, No. 26; Grand Prairie, No. 36; Garland, No. 46; Arlington, No. 57; Fort Worth, No. 58

3.*   In just one year, Texas gained more residents than any other state, according to a new report from the U.S. Census Bureau. The estimates, released December 19, show Texas added 379,128 residents from July 1, 2017, to July 1, 2018 - the largest numeric gain among the 50 states. Texas picked up nearly 380,000 residents. New arrivals to Texas versus people leaving the state account for the bulk of the state’s population growth, according to Lloyd Potter, the state demographer. “The most likely reasons people relocate to Texas are its resilient economy and relatively affordable housing,” Potter said. “Oil-and-gas production continues to be a major component in the state’s economy, but other sectors such as information technology, manufacturing, and biomedicine are important sources of job growth.” Overall, the bureau says, Texas saw its population climb from 28,322,717 in July 2017 to 28,701,845 in July 2018, a 1.3 percent hike. Percentage-wise, Texas was the eighth fastest growing state during the one-year period.

4.*   The Dallas-Fort Worth housing market topped $510 billion in value in 2018, a record high, thanks to several years of big price gains. DFW's home market added $14.6 billion in value last year alone, according to new estimates from Zillow. Since the worst of the Great Recession, Zillow says area home values have grown by $157.6 billion. Nationwide, the cumulative value of the U.S. housing market grew $1.9 trillion in 2018 to a total of $33.3 trillion, according to the firm. "Seen from the rearview mirror, 2018 was a year of unusually strong, stable home value growth across the country," Zillow senior economist Aaron Terrazas said in the report. Median single-family home sales prices rose about only about 5 percent for the first 11 months of the year, but overall Dallas-Fort Worth housing values have increased more than 40% in the last five years to a record high.

5.*   Now that 2019 is here, numbers from 2018 are being released, and probably no surprise, Dallas, TX is ranked the hottest real estate market by homes.com. Dallas’s real estate market was as hot as the city in the summertime. Strengthened by an excess of new jobs, a higher-than-average annual income, and rising housing values, Dallas enjoyed plenty of activity with newcomers arriving in droves.  According to homes.com, in 2018 the real estate market saw some serious progress in many local markets around the country. Home values rose and interest rates, while climbing, were still historically low. As for next year, experts predict housing values in Dallas to climb by another 4.7%, so if you want to get in at a good price, better to start planning your move earlier in 2019 than later.


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