Houston’s retail market has continued to post record-high performance numbers in 2017, in-part because of the rooftops and master-planned communities underway in west Houston, a new report states.

Projects such as Newland Communities’ Elyson, which sits on 3,600 acres near the Grand Parkway and FM 529 and will eventually add more than 6,000 homesto west Houston, have helped Houston retail maintain its more than 94 percent occupancy level since 2014, according to a March 2017 report from Houston-based NAI Partners. The report also cites Harvest Green, a new master-planned community anchored by a working farm. The project, which is being developed by Johnson Development Corp., will eventually offer up to 2,000 homes.

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For a glimpse into downtown Houston’s future, we need to only look west.

As a market, Houston’s Central Business District is being weighed down by a whopping 17.5 percent office vacancy rate and more than 2 million square feet of available sublease space, per Colliers research. An increasing number of downtown Houston’s historic buildings – such as the Houston Bar Center, an old First Church of Christ Scientist property and Houston’s historic Melrose building– are being scooped up by investors that plan to develop properties that will keep downtown’s streets busy on nights and weekends.

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Houston is considered the riskiest multifamily market nationally for apartment investors, according to a new report.

MPF Research calculated the risk level and probability of a rent recession in apartment markets across the country. The multifamily arm of Carrollton, Texas-based Realpage (Nasdaq: RP) looked at a variety of factors, including rent, absorption, occupancy rates, inventory and local economic trends, over a period of nearly 20 years.

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Since the presidential election, one local real estate economist said he sees national enthusiasm everywhere. The promise of new jobs and less regulation has both individuals and corporations optimistic for 2017, even in Houston, according to Mark G. Dotzour, a real estate economist who presents his findings across the country.

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