Austin the nation's top city for a 'fresh start'Austin Business Journal

[ATXboom]

Thursday, May 21, 2009, 9:33am CDT

Report: Austin the nation's top city for a 'fresh start'Austin Business Journal

Austin is the best city in America to get a fresh start, according to a new report from Relocation.com.

The online moving service company ranked Austin No. 1 on its list of the best cities to start over and seek out new economic opportunities.

Relocation.com used the following elements to create its list: city "popularity" based on consumer requests for moving quotes to move to that city; economic-growth prospects; home affordability; and the strength of a community as reflected by volunteerism rates.

The top cities following Austin, in order, are Dallas; Charlotte, N.C.; Denver; Columbus, Ohio; Indianapolis; and Washington, D.C.; Atlanta; Oklahoma City, Okla.; and a three-way tie for 10th place between Houston, Seattle and Las Vegas.

"Studies have shown that many people don't like where they live,” said Sharon Asher, chairman and founder of Relocation.com. “At the same time, a lot of people are looking for work, whether they're unemployed now or fearing layoffs. It's a scary time, but for some it might be a good time to think about starting over.”

The full list and more details are available on the company's Web site.

[Jdawgboy]

Congrats for Austin hope we can keep this up as the year continues on.

[JAM]

Interesting that Dallas is #2 while Houston is #10 and San Antonio doesn't even show up. Dallas has the highest unemployment rate, most foreclosures and more sub prime lending than any other large metro in the state according to Texas Monthly's interview with state officials and experts.

http://www.texasmonthly.com/2009-06-01/feature3.php

[NThomas]

Originally Posted by JAM

Interesting that Dallas is #2 while Houston is #10 and San Antonio doesn't even show up. Dallas has the highest unemployment rate, most foreclosures and more sub prime lending than any other large metro in the state according to Texas Monthly's interview with state officials and experts.

http://www.texasmonthly.com/2009-06-01/feature3.php

What's that tell you about Texas? The economic "crisis" has for the most part, passed the state by.

[bluedogok]

Good article, I wouldn't say passed the state by but I do think it's impact has been limited compared to many parts of the country. Our business has ground to a halt because the developers can't get credit to develop.

There was an article in Bloomberg a month or so ago that alluded to the fact that the energy/land bust of the 80's led to some temperance on the part of local/regional banks unlike in other areas which fueled the boom cycle leading to the bust cycle and the bottom dropping out of the land values that lending was based on. Texas was right in the middle of this as well and the same story could have been written all over this state as well. I had just graduated high school in OKC when Penn Square Bank failed in 1982 and remember the aftermath all too well, I kept seeing the same thing happening this time. The effect here hasn't been too bad compared to elsewhere or what it was like around here in the early 80's, but there has still been an effect.

To me the banking discussion part of the TM story is key, Houston and DFW are tied more to the national/international business and banking systems and is therefore more exposed than Austin or San Antonio which seems to be more regional/community based. Plus, as the TM article stated, they were more exposed in sub-prime lending by the larger banks that has led to more declining home values than this area. I think too many people in those larger markets didn't live through the real estate bust of the 80's, they all came to this region later and rode the wave full bore until it crashed. Those who were around 25+ years ago and survived were a little more prudent in lending.

Here is a link to the article: Bloomberg News - Oklahoma City Penn Square Lessons Give It 5.6% Jobless Rate

If you want to read about some of the history of the early 80's bust, read Belly Up by Philip Zweig or Funny Money by Mark Singer about the Penn Square Bank collapse, there is also The Daisy Chain by James O'Shea about a Vernon S&L that boomed its way to bust back then, the apartment complex that I lived at in Dallas in the early 90's was even mentioned in that book.