DFW Led Country in Population Growth in 2023
DFW: North Texas added a new city in 2023. Not an actual city, but the region grew by 152,000 new residents last year, the most of any large metro area in the country. A new report from the U.S. Census Bureau notes that population growth and says that DFW has now surpassed the 8 million population mark. The data includes people migrating in and out of the region, plus birth and mortality statistics. The report is significant as population growth, along with business expansions and relocations and jobs, among other factors, is a component to the overall health of a local economy. DFW is poised to surpass Chicago as the No. 3 most populous region in the country within a few years. In the latest Census data, the Houston-Pasadena-Woodlands area saw a growth of nearly 140,000 people, to a total population of 7.5 million. Austin grew by 50,000 to about 2.4 million.
U.S.: Will it, or won’t it? Eyes continue to be on the Federal Reserve and the economic data it will need to make a decision on interest rate cuts. The Fed meets next week but few on Wall Street and Main Street are expecting it to cut rates at the March meeting. Wholesale inflation rose about 0.6% in February, double what had been expected. The latest weekly unemployment claims dropped by more than 200,000, but retail sales grew unexpectedly in February. These and other statistics are closely watched by economists to predict what the Fed needs to see to act. As late as December, economists and Wall Street had forecast the Fed to lower rates several times before the end of 2024. That is still not off the table, although few are predicting when the cuts will start or the exact number before the end of the year.
DFW: North Texas has been a national player not only in commercial development but also in industrial and warehousing space. And DFW continues to be a leader in the data center portal. A new report from JLL, a company specializing in commercial real estate, says that DFW has more than 5.6 million square feet of data center space that helps companies with its data and technology services, including artificial intelligence. The company says there is less than 200,000 square feet of space available, but more is coming, nearly 1 million more square feet are under construction, and more than 2 million square feet are in the development pipeline, which means billions of dollars in investment.
CALIFORNIA: Have you heard about the new city that some of Silicon Valley’s billionaire investors are wanting to build in rural California to help ease the state’s housing crisis? The group behind “California Forever” has invested nearly $1 billion in buying 78 square miles of farmland in Solano County, between Sacramento and San Francisco, to build an eco-friendly city that would create jobs in an urban setting but with open spaces. The company behind California Forever had been secretly buying land since 2018, backed by the widow of Apple founder Steve Jobs, among others. The group wants to build up to 20,000 homes to house up to 50,000 people in an initial phase, with a city to eventually be home to 400,000 people. The group has raised the ire of some residents as it tries to secure enough signatures to put the measure on a ballot initiative in the fall. It also faces scrutiny from state and U.S. environmental and military officials, especially because part of the land is near Travis Air Force Base. Stay tuned.
U.S.: These are not your typical Arnbs or Vrbos—they belong to the stars, and they come with a hefty price. Take the mansion belonging to Josh Brolin, the son of legendary actor James Brolin and an accomplished actor in his own right. He and his wife are asking $35k a month for their 7,700-square-foot, five-bedroom, eight-bath mansion in Atlanta. Too steep? Soleil Moon, who starred in that “Punky Brewster” sitcom, is renting her two-bedroom, two-bath home in Venice Beach, California, for $15,000 per month—but it’s just a couple of blocks from the beach. And for those wanting a bit of nostalgia and macabre—though it seems there aren’t that many yet—there’s a home in the rolling hills of the Franklin, Tennessee countryside that also is being offered for $15k per month—it’s the place where country singer Naomi Judd spent her last hours—literally.
