San Antonio

We are constantly looking at the fundamental factors in various markets that make any given real estate market a solid investment. This way we can try to stay ahead of the curve and get capital invested into these sound markets before it gets flooded. One such area that we have been spending some time on is San Antonio, TX. We wanted to take a few minutes and share with you some of the key reasons why we like San Antonio.

At a Glance

• Metro Population: 2,285,200
• Major Industries: Defense, Health care, Tourism
• Gross Metro Product: $101.2 B
• Median Household Income: $50,075
• Median Home Price: $169,600
• Unemployment: 4.9%
• Job Growth (2013): 2.7%
• Cost of Living: 1.9% above nat'l avg
• College Attainment: 26.5%
• Net Migration (2013): 6,300

Profile: San Antonio is famous for the historical Spanish missions, Alamo, River Walk, Tower of the Americas and Alamo Bowl. The city hosts the annual San Antonio Stock Show & Rodeo, one of the largest in the country. San Antonio has a strong military presence and is home to 31 higher education facilities including the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, the University of Texas at San Antonio, Texas A&M University–San Antonio and the Alamo Community College District among others. The city has vibrant art community that reflects the rich history and culture of the area. Commercial entertainment includes SeaWorld and Six Flags Fiesta Texas theme parks. The city is visited by approximately 26 million tourists every year. (Forbes Best Places for Business and Careers)

 Market Analysis:

Like its other Texas neighbors, San Antonio boasts soaring population rates as well as a good job market and booming industry. One key factor in San Antonio's favor: stable house prices--even by Texas standards. PMI Mortgage Insurance's most recent risk index, which is a two-year measure, lists San Antonio as having the lowest risk from falling prices among large Texas cities.

Overall, we like San Antonio for a few reasons:  first is the fact that it is the second largest city in Texas (which was initially shocking to us, so we looked it up and they have been on such a rapid growth spurt that they have passed up Dallas in population size). The second reason is the employment elements of San Antonio. San Antonio has a very stable non-cyclical employment base with military, healthcare, schools and government. Third is the housing prices in San Antonio. If you were to factor in the average salary, and even starting salaries, for most of the new jobs in San Antonio, almost all of the houses in San Antonio are well below the affordability range of those salaries, which of course provides us a huge pool of potential qualified buyers. Given all of these factors we feel San Antonio is one of the most fundamentally sound markets currently in not only Texas, but all of the United States.

God Bless