Five stories that have North Texas talking: Dallas is the best market to invest in housing in 2017; the last man to walk on the moon died in Houston Monday; the Cowboys loss Sunday was the most-watched NFL divisional playoff game ever; and more.
Dallas is the best market to invest in housing in 2017, according to a list Forbes published this month. By 2020, home prices in Dallas are expected to grow by 31 percent, the highest growth of any city listed. That projection is based on Dallas' 6.2 percent population growth in three years (2012-2015), 3.9 percent job gains last year and 9 percent annual home price gains. "Homes in Dallas are also undervalued compared historic averages and local income,” according to Forbes. Dallas has an average home price of $233,000, which is up 3.9 percent from a year ago and about $35,000 less than the national average.
Climbing five spots from last year’s list, Dallas ranks No. 1 among 20 markets (cities with populations no less than 500,000 people). The Forbes study conducted with Local Market Monitor began with 330 markets that were narrowed down by performance across five metrics: annual job growth, three-year population growth, annual home price growth, affordability and Local Market Monitor’s own three-year home price forecast, which Forbes used to rank the list in 2016. Texas not only holds the top spot on the 2017 list but the second most spots overall, with Forth Worth at No. 9 and San Antonio at 20. Here’s the full methodology and 2017 rankings.
- Gene Cernan, the last person to walk on the moon, died on Monday at age 82. The former astronaut was surrounded by relatives when he died at a Houston hospital, family spokeswoman Melissa Wren told The Associated Press. AP reports: “Cernan was commander of NASA's Apollo 17 mission and on his third space flight when set foot on the lunar surface in December 1972. He became the last of only a dozen men to walk on the moon on Dec. 14, 1972 — tracing his only child's initials in the dust before climbing the ladder of the lunar module the last time. It was a moment that forever defined him in both the public eye and his own.” [The Associated Press]
- You may have heard about Texas’ so-called bathroom bill, but what does it entail? The Texas Tribune has annotated Senate Bill 6 to clarify what the controversial bill would mean for transgender Texans. Essentially, the bill would require members of the transgender community to use bathrooms in public schools, government buildings and public universities based on “biological sex.” The Tribune reports: “The measure would also pre-empt local nondiscrimination ordinances that allow transgender Texans to use the bathroom that corresponds with their gender identity.” Read the annotated bill. [The Texas Tribune]
- As if the Dallas Cowboys’ loss wasn’t enough, it was watched by millions of people. Green Bay's 34-31 win over Dallas was seen by an average of 48.5 million on Fox, the most-viewed NFL divisional playoff game ever. The Associated Press reports: “The game Sunday had a 26.1 rating and 46 share, the network said Monday, the highest-rated NFC divisional game since 1997. The rating is the percentage of television households tuned to a program, and the share is the percentage watching a telecast among those homes with TVs on at the time.” [The Associated Press]
- On just one day last month, more than 60 brown pelicans were killed along Highway 48 in South Texas. Texas Standard explains: “In the morning, pelicans fly over the highway to hunt fish in the Gulf of Mexico. In the evening, they fly back to their roosts. But concrete barriers along the highway are creating downdrafts that slam the birds into the road.” The group Save Our Pelicans Laguna Madre area has been trying to devise solutions to the problem. TxDOT has installed poles designed to deter the birds, but the volunteers want the barriers replaced by something that won’t alter the wind flow so drastically. [Texas Standard]
