HOUSTON (CB Richard Ellis) – H-Town’s office market finished 2011 with more than three million sf of positive net absorption, reports CB Richard Ellis (CBRE) in its latest market analysis. The firm credits area job growth, increasing shale exploration activity and stronger oil prices for the surge in leasing. According to the report, predictions for the city’s 2010 employment gains of 13,700 were later revised to reflect the addition of around 40,000 more new jobs than anticipated. The Greater Houston Partnership’s figures show the city gained 170,700 jobs since economic recovery began. That’s 111.7 percent of the 152,800 jobs lost because of the recession. In addition, CBRE said employment forecasters expect 84,000 jobs to be added this year. Office space absorption in the early part of 2011 was the result of several large transactions that had been shelved during the recession. Fourth quarter absorption, on the other hand, was from many small to medium-sized deals. Class-A vacancy dropped 150 basis points from 12.14 in fourth quarter 2010 to 10.6 percent a year later. With the decreasing vacancy rate and shrinking Class-A available space, proposed developments and new construction are on the rise in the suburban markets.

WASHINGTON, D.C. (Associated Press) – Texas is getting $31 million in federal funding to help with wildfire recovery. At least 80 percent of it will go to Bastrop County, which was devasted by fires that began late last summer.

Community development block grants will help pay for housing, business and infrastructure needs beyond other public and private help.

The money is part of $400 million in nationwide natural disaster assistance from the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

According to the Texas Forest Service, last year’s wildfire season was the worst in the state’s history, covering nearly four million acres and destroying 4,000 structures, and resulting in ten deaths.

HOUSTON (CB Richard Ellis) – An increase in building activity marked the strengthening of Houston’s industrial market in fourth quarter 2011, according to CB Richard Ellis’ latest market analysis.

The report showed that 4.1 million sf of active building was taking place at the end of 2011, up 14 percent from the end of the third quarter and more than 450 percent over the end of 2010.

Industrial vacancy rates have declined over the past two years. The overall vacancy rate dropped to 5.6 percent in the fourth quarter from 5.9 percent in the previous quarter and 6.5 percent in fourth quarter 2010.

At the end of fourth quarter 2011, Houston’s industrial market posted 25 million sf of vacant space alongside 2.1 million sf of positive net absorption, pushing year-to-date absorption to 3.8 million sf.

In its report, CB Richard Ellis says “employment now exceeds its prerecession peak in several sectors — oil and gas extraction, food and beverage stores, utilities, and trucking to name a few. The recovery has been rough, and job growth will repeat that trend with only construction and real estate showing signs of significant improvement next year.”

COLLEGE STATION (Real Estate Center) – Texas’ mining and logging industry ranked first in job creation in the past year, followed by the professional and business services industry, and the leisure and hospitality industry, according to the latest Monthly Review of the Texas Economy.

Overall, the state’s economy gained 205,100 nonagricultural jobs from December 2010 to December 2011, an annual growth rate of 2 percent compared with 1.3 percent for the United States. The state’s nongovernment sector added 261,200 jobs, an annual growth rate of 3 percent compared with 1.8 percent for the nation’s private sector.

Texas’ seasonally adjusted unemployment rate fell from 8.3 percent to 7.8 percent while the nation’s rate decreased from 9.4 percent to 8.5 percent.

All Texas industries except the information industry, construction industry, and the state’s government sector had more jobs in December 2011 than in December 2010.

All Texas metro areas except Abilene, Wichita Falls, College Station-Bryan, Killeen-Temple-Fort Hood, Brownsville-Harlingen and Beaumont-Port Arthur had more jobs in December 2011 than in December 2010. Laredo ranked first in job creation followed by Corpus Christi, Victoria, Lubbock, Midland and Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown.

The state’s actual unemployment rate in December 2011 was 7.2 percent. Midland had the lowest unemployment rate followed by Amarillo, Odessa, Lubbock, College Station and San Angelo.

By David S. Jones, Senior Editor, RECON Magazine

COLLEGE STATION, Tex. (Real Estate Center) – Texas added more than 41,000 “mining and logging” jobs during the year ending in December. Most of these were in the resurgent oil patch.

“The average number of active rotary rigs increased from 719.8 in December 2010 to 873.4 in December 2011,” said Dr. Ali Anari, author of the Monthly Review of the Texas Economy published by the Real Estate Center at Texas A&M University.

The state’s mining and logging sector posted an 18.8 percent job gain for the year, easily outpacing all other job categories. Professional and business services and leisure and hospitality were second with 4.1 percent more jobs.

Laredo ranked first in job creation followed by Corpus Christi, Victoria, Lubbock, Midland and Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown.

It was not a good year for Texas’ construction, government or information industries.

The state’s construction industry lost 6,500 jobs. Job gains in the construction of buildings sector and in heavy and civil engineering construction were more than offset by the loss of 8,600 specialty trade contractor jobs.

The government sector lost 56,100 jobs, an annual decline rate of 3 percent. Government job losses included 2,500 among Texas-based federal workers; 42,100 in local governments and 11,500 at the state level.

Texas’ information industry (Internet service providers, web search portals, publishing industries, broadcasting and telecommunications) lost 7,800 jobs, a 4 percent rate decrease.

“The state economy gained 205,100 nonagricultural jobs December to December,” said Anari. “That’s an annual growth rate of 2 percent. By comparison, the United States grew 1.3 percent during that time.”

Texas’ nongovernment sector added 261,200 jobs, an annual growth rate of 3 percent. The nation’s private sector grew 1.8 percent.

HOUSTON (Metrostudy) – Houston’s housing market appears to be building up steam, according to a recent report by housing data and consulting firm Metrostudy.

Area homebuilders started 18,417 new homes in 2011, a 2 percent decline from the 2010 total. But the 4,387 homes started in fourth quarter 2011 represent a 24 percent increase over last year’s tax credit-depressed quarterly starts count. Just over 4,890 new homes were closed last quarter, 388 more than the year before.

At the end of 2011, the city’s new home market had an inventory of fewer than 10,000 homes, a first since 1997. A 10 percent decline in new home closings in 2011 caused new home inventory to rise from 5.9 last year to 6.4 months.

But the city’s job growth should mean more work for builders this year.

“Based on the job growth of the last 12 months, the tight housing supply and the building confidence of the Houston market should lead to an increase in new home starts through the end of 2012,” said David Jarvis, director of Metrostudy’s Houston division.

Metrostudy said the city’s unemployment rate dropped to 7.6 percent in fourth quarter 2011, a full percentage point less than the previous quarter’s reading. Employment also grew by 3.3 percent annually.

HOUSTON (Houston Business Journal) – Houston is home to two of the country’s five top-selling master-planned communities, according to John Burns Real Estate Consulting LLC.

The Woodlands ranked second based on 945 home sales last year, up from 786 sales in 2010. Cinco Ranch came in third with 862 home sales, up from 823 sales in 2010.

Also cracking the top five was Alamo Ranch in San Antonio, with 500 home sales last year.

The top spot went to The Villages in Orlando, Fla., which had 2,307 sales.

Twelve of the top 50 master-planned communities in the survey are in Houston. A list is posted on the Houston Business Journal‘s website.

A total of 133 master-planned communities were surveyed by Irvine, Calif.-based John Burns Real Estate Consulting for the second annual ranking.

HOUSTON (Houston Business Journal) – Metrostudy President Mike Inselmann predicts 2012 will bring about a 10 percent increase in both single-family home starts and existing home sales in Houston.

Speaking Wednesday at the 2012 Houston Housing Forecast, Inselmann predicted the number of home starts will rise from 18,000 in 2011 to as much as 20,500 this year.

He also also predicted sales of existing single-family homes will increase by at least 10 percent, rising from 2011′s 54,000 to as much as 59,400 this year.

WASHINGTON, D.C. (Urban Land Institute) – The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has released its ”Enterprising States 2011″ report, and it enhances Texas’ reputation for being a business-friendly state.

The Lone Star State ranked sixth on the list of top ten states for low business taxes and regulations. The report said “the Lone Star State is a low-tax state that offers a low cost of living and has an enterprise-friendly climate that’s paying off with high job growth rates. Recent state initiatives include a business tax reform that raises the revenue exemption.”

Ahead of Texas were Tennessee, South Dakota, Wyoming, Alaska and Indiana.

According to the Urban Land Institute, “states were ranked in a variety of performance metrics, including their tax and regulatory environments. Those environments were compared in five ways: overall state and local tax burdens, corporate taxes, small-business costs, state government budget gaps, and cost-of-living indices.”

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce noted that states making the top ten were mostly inland locales, saying desirable coastal states don’t always need incentives to attract business investment and expansion.

HOUSTON (Houston Business Journal) – A new report from Clear Capital provides further evidence that Texas housing markets are faring better than the nation’s.

According to the real estate data provider, the average home price in Houston dropped .8 percent in 2011. Nationally, prices dropped 2.1 percent.

In fourth quarter 2011, the city’s home prices increased by 1.8 percent compared with the national decrease of .4 percent.

Clear Capital expects Houston home prices to increase by 3 percent this year, compared with the nation’s .2 percent.