The Houston buyer pool witnessed $8.8 billion of investment in 2012⎯⎯an increase of 32 percent from 2011 according to Jones Lang LaSalle Capital Markets.
The city’s market continues to attract foreign and domestic capital sources. In 2012, the Association of Real Estate Foreign Investors (AFIRE) Annual Foreign Investment Survey Houston ranked fourth of all U.S. cities, and fifth globally, in terms of real estate investment dollars overall.
Houston’s market employment in 2012 saw gains of almost four percent above its previous peak. Nearly 100,000 new jobs were added in the 12 months ending October 2012⎯⎯a 3.6 percent annual increase. The city comprises only 23.7 percent of the state’s population but contributed nearly 35 percent of the state’s job growth. Due to above-average population growth and the expansion in healthcare, distribution facilities, and energy services, the long-term prospects are promising.
“We will continue to see strong interest from the equity and debt markets to place capital in Houston,” says Tom Fish, managing director and co-head, real estate investment banking, Jones Lang LaSalle’s Capital Markets. “The low interest rates and attractive debt structures will drive transactions in the year ahead, and all property types will benefit from increased liquidity in the market. Real estate fundamentals will continue to be sound as supply and demand are in check.”
Houston’s hotel market posted the third-highest revenue per available room (RevPAR) growth rate among the country’s top 25 lodging markets in 2012. RevPAR increased by 14 percent in that time period⎯⎯double the national growth rate. 

Says Gilda Perez-Alvarado, senior vice president of Jones Lang LaSalle’s Hotels & Hospitality Group, “Bolstered by strong corporate and leisure demand, the Houston hotel transaction market reached $250 million in 2012⎯⎯ranking ninth nationwide in terms of transaction volume. The investment market has remained relatively tempered, and it’s likely we will see larger deals in the year ahead.”
