Coastal Bend 2016: still growing, still advancing, but slowing

​​CORPUS CHRISTI – Home construction and job growth in Texas
will lose some of their economic steam in 2016 because of the energy downturn.

“Texas’ $1.7 trillion gross domestic product has enjoyed
annual growth at or near 3 percent each year since 2010, much of it tied to
energy-related commerce. Sliding production and dwindling oil prices the last
17 months will take its toll on the state’s economy,” said Jim Gaines, Chief Economist
at the Real Estate Center at Texas A&M University.

While Texas is not expected to go into recession, its growth
rate for the rest of 2015, all of 2016 and part of 2017 will be less, perhaps
even 1 percent each year.

"We’ll still grow, we’ll still advance," Gaines
said. "But it’ll come at a lower rate than we’ve gotten used to."

The Coastal Bend has been a huge benefactor of economic
growth since 2008, the year drilling began in what is now the Eagle Ford Shale
energy play. That growth has been a magnet for job seekers.

The Corpus Christi Metropolitan Statistical Area, which
includes Aransas, Nueces and San Patricio counties, had a record 200,300 jobs
in April 2015 — or 3.7 percent more jobs from previous years.

Gaines predicted the area’s job growth will diminish in the
coming years. That parallels the job-growth forecast for the state, which is
expected to grow by 2 percent in 2016 and just 1 percent the following year.

The Texas Association of Realtors’ 2015 Texas Annual Housing Report​ indicated home sales and prices steadily
increased throughout the year, while statewide housing inventory reached a
two-year high in third quarter 2015.

The report also showed that Texas is outpacing the nation in
home sales, as median incomes for Texans rose 5.9 percent year-over-year — more
than double the growth rate of incomes nationally during the same time frame.

Twelve industrial plants are in various stages
of development around the Port of Corpus Christi and are slated to begin
operating within the next two years.