By Nelly DeLourdes Mitford, HAR International Advisory Group Member, CIPS, CNE, ABR, LHMS
The Woodlands commercial and residential real estate industry has experienced unprecedented growth in the past 18 months.
The Woodlands, Texas continues to see a huge increase of companies wanting to open or relocate their headquarters to our town. In the past five years the town has created over more than 5,000 jobs with 32% of these jobs being represented by the energy companies.
Global companies like Exxon/Mobil, Talisman Energy Services, Anadarko, and Spanish based Repsol Oil and Gas, have been relocating their employees and their families to The Woodlands. Exxon/Mobil new campus near The Woodlands is planned to accommodate 10,000 employees from upstream, downstream and chemical operations in one facility.
That means most of these families will be looking for homes in Spring and The Woodlands.
The Woodlands has about 2,100 single-family lots left to build and about 900 acres of commercial development remaining. A portion of the commercial development is occurring in Hughes Landing, the 66-acre mixed-use development on the northeast shore of Lake Woodlands.
The retail growth has been dramatic in the past year. The Woodlands Mall is anxiously waiting the opening of their new premier anchor tenant. The Seattle-based Nordstrom store is scheduled to open in September 2014.
The Woodlands is starting to look and feel more like an urban town than the suburbs, we are no longer just a family oriented neighborhood or planned community. We are offering so much more for just about everyone. You now see The Woodlands Waterway area with people walking the streets and visiting with friends at their favorites restaurants at all times of the day. This is something that attracts the foreign nationals because they are more accustomed to this style of life.
We have great urban housing with condos and lofts and apartments and new luxury apartments are expected to be built, so we’re attracting some of the younger employees that might have typically overlooked our town and moved to Houston.
The Woodlands Township priorities are high quality of services and amenities, a commitment to public safety, world class parks and pools, keeping with the green initiative and vision of the founder George Mitchell, low taxes and opening up our town as the most sought after for fortune 200 companies to establish their headquarters in The Woodlands.
There is no surprise why foreign nationals are also investing in The Woodlands. Strengthened by the fact that the U. S. dollar is not strong as it has been, foreign nationals are beginning to invest in real estate properties in the Houston markets.
Every community and every builder is doing all they can to get as much inventory built as quickly as possible. There’s just more demand than supply. The Woodlands is no different, we are dealing with multiple offers on residential listings as well as not enough homes available for lease in our area.
The residential Foreign nationals buyers are also coming to The Woodlands because they want their children to study in our schools and learn the culture. Most of them come from Mexico, Latin America and Asia. They invest in real estate as part of their investment portfolio. They are also purchasing vacation homes in our area because the amenities are so abundant that they want to bring their families here.
