The January issue of Texas REALTOR® came out today.  In it was a story on the economic outlook for Texas in 1007.  Economists from the Texas Real Estate Center at Texas A&M had some good things to say.  Among them were that:  "Texas home sales should remain about equal to or even slightly greater than 2006."  Considering that 2006 was a good year for most areas of the state, I'd say this is a great statement.  The article also stated that the median price of a home in Texas in 2006 increased 4.4%.

If you look for other reporst and articles, you will find that people from all over the country are finding new homes in Texas.  In 2006, about 580,000 people relocated to Texas.  That was the largest gain for any state.  You will also see that job growth is strong in most of the state.  Compared to many regions of the U.S. and certainly to the national average, home prices in Texas are faily inexpensive.

I also saw this on realestate.msn.com:  "Texas didn't experience dramatic price appreciation until more recently. Consequently, the Dallas and Houston metro areas are expected to have 2007 price increases of 4% and 3.3%, respectively."

Housing Predictor.com says that Houston should see homes appreciate at a rate of about 7.3% in 2007.  It goes on to say that Austin and Brownsville are "two of the strongest real estate markets" in the country.  The same article states that Austin should see a 6.1% rate of appreciation in 2007.