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The city advanced three spots in the rankings from the Urban Land Institute’s last annual survey. Respondents cited Houston’s strong employment outlook and development around its ports as the main draws. Peter Rummel is the Institute’s global chair.
“Houston has an enormous advantage that most other cities in the United States would kill for, and that is demand.”
Longer term, Rummel said Houston will face major challenges as the baby boomers retire — and many abandon the suburbs they’ve lived in throughout their working lives.
“I think that you’re going to find that an enormous number of baby boomers who want to age in place, aren’t going to want to age in those same suburbs. They don’t want a 3,500 square foot house anymore. They don’t want the yard. So if they decide that they don’t want to spend the last 20 years [of their lives] in a suburb, but want to be someplace that’s lower maintenance or closer in or easier access, then that’s going to change the landscape.”
Houston was actually the second-ranked Texas city on the list, behind number four Austin. Number one on the list was San Francisco.
