The Texas housing market is picking up steam

 SAN FRANCISCO (InmanNews.com) – Cities such as Las Vegas, Miami and San Diego that once were hot for real estate investors now are not. However, Texas seems to be running counter to national trends, says Dr. Mark G. Dotzour, chief economist with the Real Estate Center at Texas A&M University.

 “We’re starting to see a pretty significant migration of California people not only buying property for investment but moving here to live,” Dotzour told Inman News.

 While many real estate markets across the country were booming, Texas was slower to recover economically from the dot-com bust and the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

Now the Texas housing market is picking up steam. Odessa and Midland had the highest home appreciation in the state. Real estate markets in El Paso, San Antonio, Wichita Falls, Corpus Christi, Tyler South Padre Island and Brownsville are gaining momentum. Still, Texas has been cited by some as being an undervalued real estate market.

 “You can still buy a really nice home for $100 a square foot in Texas,” Dotzour said. Busy homebuilders have helped to moderate prices.