The real estate and job markets throughout America the last few years have taken a beating for the most part. There are very few areas of the country that sustained their real estate values and maintained a strong job market.

Many areas such as in California and Michigan, values in some cases have dropped 30% to 50% or more. People are losing their jobs as businesses scramble to downsize to survive this recession.

One market that is not in as deep of waters is San Antonio, Texas. Not nearly as known as their big brothers Dallas and Houston, this city has recently gotten a lot of media coverage for its job growth, low cost of living and real estate market. People have noticed and are coming in big numbers. Look around this city and you will see development and construction going on everywhere and “Help Wanted” signs on many businesses.

What a difference from what I have seen and read about in most other areas of the country.

Here are some of the highlights of San Antonio:

• One of the fastest growing United States cities with 14.9% growth from 2000-2007.
• Job growth increase of 2.3% from March 2007-2008, while national average was only 0.4%.
• Now the 7th largest city in the United States, recently passing San Diego.
• Comparatively lower cost of living and business costs (5.9% below national average).
• Average area tenant occupancy rate of 94%.
• Low unemployment rate of 4% with strong private and large public sector employers.
• 2.4 billion dollar government contract awarded to Fort Sam Houston for new construction and estimated 10,000 new jobs in 3 years.
• Located in central Texas, the gateway for foreign trade and half of all trade going in and out of Mexico, goes thru San Antonio.
• Recently listed as #2 by Forbes Magazine as a recession proof city.
• Popular tourist city with the Alamo and Riverwalk. They also have large number of conventions that pump many millions of dollars of revenue into the city each year and create jobs.
• The city has five large military installations that creates jobs and pumps incredible amounts of money into the economy.

Projections from the local officials, estimate that San Antonio will double in the next 10 years. Looking around this city, it would not surprise me one bit. Texas was one of the fastest growing states in 2007 and a lot of those folks are right here in San Antonio with more arriving every day.

If you’re looking to park some of your funds in real estate, this might be an area to look at. The numbers tell the story.

And from a Realtor’s perspective, there is a lot of potential business!

Joe Corwin has been a real estate investor and Realtor for over ten years. www.joecorwin.com

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