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After being passed over during the hot market the last few years, Houston has taken off in sales and property value. The  city has the triple benefit of lowering property taxes, higher oil prices, and the relocation of many businesses from the  New Orleans region.

Commentators have been quick to point out that the boom experienced elsewhere did not come to Houston. So now, we are getting our just desserts.

But other factors have played a role. Rising interest rates should hurt any housing market, but our stronger-than-national average job growth, our strong population growth appear to be outweighing the “cost of money.”
The property tax cut, even as miniscule as it is, is likely to be helping spur buyers as well. via HoustonRealNews.com

Austin to the north is also seeing strong appreciation of their housing inventory.

Southwest Austin is growing by leaps and bounds. New condominiums and commercial developments are constantly under construction, and a new elementary school just opened in Circle C to address the population growth.

The area is drawing back former Austinite Joe Lamendola. He moved to a suburb of Washington, D.C. 15 years ago. Now he’s back here in the high-tech industry and building a spacious new home in Southwest Austin. “I remember living here 15 years ago when Southwest Parkway was just being built and there was nothing there. It was kind of a joke back then that Southwest Parkway went nowhere,” he said.

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