Foreign Investors Create Real Estate Boom in Houston

HOUSTON — Last year, foreign firms bought $2.83 billion worth of office buildings in Houston. Thats fours times the amount of real estate purchased by real estate investment trusts (REITS) that year. For the first time, Houston now ranks in the top five worldwide cities that foreign investors are investing in joining New York City, London, San Francisco and Washington D.C.

Office sales rose by 32% to $3.89 billion last year, while total U.S. office sales rose by 21%. With the city’s job growth and rise in oil production, Houston has made it onto the annual survey by the Association of Foreign Investors in Real Estate for the first time.


Although the real estate boom includes all types of buildings, investors have taken a special interest in office buildings. Investors have been flocking to Houston as it is much cheaper to purchase real estate than in other cities like New York and San Francisco.

In March, Invesco made a $412 deal to purchase Williams Tower, which is the third tallest building in Houston making it one of the largest real estate purchases in Houston.This follows the firm’s 2012 purchase of the Hess tower for record high price of $524 per square foot.

As an increased amount of real estate is purchased, prices to rent office space continues to rise. The average rent for office space in Houston’s Galleria district rose by 11% to $32.02 a square foot this year. Downtown rents in Houston also increased by 3.7% to $36.60 a square foot.

The Bottom Line
As unemployment in the city drops and more jobs are created in the energy industry, Houston has become an even more desirable investment location. Houston has been in the spotlight for over a century following the Spindletop oil discovery in 1901. As oil drilling technology improves, so does the value of the city’s real estate.