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The Woodlands housing market's reaction to lowering economic events

By: J. Werner
| Published 01/29/2015

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THE WOODLANDS, Texas -- Oil prices have dropped to their lowest level since April 2009, with U.S. crude oil prices tumbling to $44.08 per barrel. With the stock market falling 195.84 points at the close of market Wednesday, January 28, and the major oil and gas related companies announcing layoffs, is there reason for concern in The Woodlands housing market?

Dropping oil prices, stock market ownturn, and downsizings affecting The Woodlands housing market?


The Nina Marino Team - Keller Williams Realty provided an assessment of the current housing situation in The Woodlands...the inventory availability, current prices, and the impact the drop in oil prices and the stock market have had on the real estate market in The Woodlands.

“We haven’t seen any impact yet from the drop in oil prices,” said Chris Elmi, a realtor on the Nina Marino Team - Keller Williams. “We’re still getting new clients buying and selling, and the lenders we work with are still seeing buyers, so locally, the housing market is still strong.”

This is good news if you’re planning on purchasing a home, but local real estate agents have had low inventory for the past six months, making available homes easy to sell, but with little to show.

“If buyers are looking for something specific in a home, or want to live close to a particular school, that certainly limits their choices,” said Elmi. “There’s a low inventory on homes under $300,000.”

More significant than the drop in oil prices is the downsizing of employees in the oil and gas industry, with some of the larger corporations already announcing layoffs. Also read BP announces layoffs in Houston following Baker Hughes, Haliburton & Schlumberger. Elmi also weighed in on the layoff effect on the housing market.

“We’ve heard that some local residents have been laid off, but we have a large oil and gas industry in this area, and hopefully they’ll be able to get back into the job market.” said Elmi. “We haven’t seen an increase in listings as a result of the downsizings; it’s too soon,” he added.

The region has become the global headquarters for the largest oil and gas corporations, many of which are implementing salary and hiring freezes in 2015. Having experienced steep fluctuations in oil prices before, this is not unexpected.

“We’ve heard that some of the ExxonMobil employees who were supposed to be relocated to The Woodlands from Fairfax, Virginia, in January, will not be coming until May,” said Elmi. “So the March-April buying market will be lower, but it will pick up in the summer time.”

Analysts are interpreting a statement from the Federal Government to mean there won't be an interest rate hike before June; good news for those who have to delay purchasing a home. The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) has stated that it will be ‘patient’ on raising interest rates from the historic lows where they have been for months.

“The Woodlands will weather the impact of dropping oil prices and the residual effects better than other areas,” said Elmi. “We’ve done so in the past, and the oil and gas industry is more diversified now.”

For more insight on The Woodlands housing market, Chris Elmi and the Nina Marino Team - Keller Williams Realty can be reached at 281-364-3773, or contact them via the website link provided.

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