Dallas Fed: Permian Basin Economy Remains Robust

Despite moderating employment growth over the past few months, the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas indicated that the “Permian Basin economy remains robust” in its September 2018 report. The 2.4% unemployment rate was flat month over month, but remained below historic lows, while job growth increased by 0.2% over August 2018.

The month-over-month growth in oil production also slowed, “but production is still over 34% higher than it was a year ago,” Dallas Fed analysts noted. As mentioned in previous articles, production growth is surpassing capacity, though the Q3 2018 Dallas Fed Energy Survey showed that 56% of those questioned expect pipeline constraints to loosen by the end of 2019.

On the housing front, single-family inventory in the Midland-Odessa remains tight, hovering at 1.4 months. The median home sales price was at $284,000, falling from its peak of $286,000 in July 2018, while home sales fell by 0.5%, which is 10% higher than the year before.

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