A new analysis on the regional economies names Texas’s Richardson, McKinney and Frisco communities as three of the country’s boomtowns this year and likely next.
With its ranking, financial technology company SmartAsset looked at four economic factors for each of the country’s 575 largest cities. Equal weight was given to a city’s GPD growth, unemployment rate, net migration and housing growth.
When all the number crunching was done, Richardson and McKinley had come out in second spot and third spots, respectively, only behind Loveland, Colo. Austin ranked sixth, followed by Frisco and Odessa, respectively.
The results speak directly to the rich opportunities facing brokers in what remains a soft P&C market across much of the country.
A strong housing market is a large part of the story, helping to drive homeowner’s insurance. Brokers on the ground are already pointing to a surprisingly strong market for personal lines despite the economic challenges for oil-dependent regions of the state.
Still, the other shoe may be waiting to drop for brokers and the Lone Star State in general.
“Like many cities in the Dallas metro area, Richardson has seen an explosion in housing development in recent years,” reads the report. “In 2014 alone, the number of housing units in the city increased by 15.3 percent, the fourth highest rate in the country. That not only means more space for new residents, but lots of jobs in construction and real estate.”
But any continued growth into 2016 may hinge on economic growth outsider of oil and gas, where prices have actually fallen rather than just leveling off.
Crude oil is, however, expected to continue falling rather than begin its climb back up, at least in the medium term.
