1. Houston Ranks No. 1 for New Job Growth
• A new study shows that Houston topped the list of cities with the
most job growth last year and Texas ranked No. 4 on the state
list.
• Based on the latest job figures from the U.S. Bureau of Labor
Statistics, Houston added 94,700 nonagricultural jobs between
January 2011 and January 2012, an increase of 3.75 percent, a
study from the W.P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State
University said.
• That sets Houston as first on the list of metropolitan markets with
a workforce of 1 million or more people.
• Texas added 262,100 jobs, a 2.5 percent increase, ranking it No.
4 among the states.
• Some states with much smaller workforces, such as North Dakota
(No. 1), added significantly fewer jobs, but they increased by
larger percentages.

2. Houston is Tops For Relocation
• Houston is the No. 1 U.S. destination city to relocate to for the
third year in a row, a report from U-Haul International
Inc. shows.
• The report, titled "The 2011 Top 50 U.S. Destination Cities,"
ranks destinations for movers traveling more than 50 miles,
according to U-Haul.
• The data was compiled from more than 1.6 million U-Haul
truck transactions in 2011.
• Every U.S. city is considered for the report, regardless of size,
though data is not stated as a percentage of population nor is
it reflective of overall growth, U-Haul said.
• Dallas and Austin also made the top 25 cities, and Plano and
Fort Worth made the top 50.

3. Weekly HAR Market Stat
In another sign that the six-year long housing slump could be coming to an end, the
National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI)
reached 28. To put that in perspective, it went from above 70 in 2005 to below 10 in
2009. The HMI has not seen 28 since June 2007. This and other landmark data
points are coalescing to signal calmer waters ahead. That's not to say you should
expect double-digit annualized appreciation, but both buyers and sellers are
displaying the sort of confidence that is fluttering through the rest of the economy.
In the Houston region, for the week ending March 18:
• New Listings decreased 9.7% to 2,141
• Pending Sales increased 27.6% to 1,577
• Closed Sales decreased 7.4% to 945

4. Designate Yourself for GRI
Graduate Realtor Institute
GRI-1 Finance
The GRI designation is the most widely recognized of the National Real
Estate Designations. Consisting of three course, each taught by experts in
their respective fields. This module consists of Contract Forms, Contract
Procedures, Residential Finance and Cultural Diversity and Fair Housing.
Date: April 12, 13, 17 and 18
Time: 8:15 a.m. – 5 p.m.
Location: HAR Montgomery and Central
Investment: $295
Register Online at www.har.com/edu Questions? 713-629-1900 ext. 6