The Houston real estate market has seen a decrease in ex-pats looking to enter the rental market in Texas, according to a leading realtor.
Lorna Ramsay moved to the US from her hometown of Aberdeen 13 years’ ago and has helped thousands of oil and gas workers relocating to the city for work.
She said the decline in global oil price over the last 18 months has seen a downturn in the renters market – but an increase in those looking to buy property.
Housing markets in energy rich hubs like Aberdeen and Houston have felt the bite from the downturn in the price of crude.
Ramsay, who works for Kellor Williams Realty, said rental prices in Houston are now dropping with a lot of to let properties sitting on the market.
She said: “The rental price is dropping, by how much – it just depends on location – but there have definitely been reductions in rent.
“An area that lots of people live in is Lakes on Eldridge, Lakes on Eldridge North and Twin Lakes and they feed expats going to private schooling so the British School, the Village School, Awty International School.
“Recently there were 39 houses on the market for lease and several had been there for some time and that was really unheard of.
“In years gone by there would be nothing available for rental. I’m still really busy, the interest rate in Houston is still very low, so the sales market is still good. People are coming back
without the relocation package so they’re coming back as locals.
“A lot of them are coming back to purchase whereas before they would have been in an expat role and would have had a relocation package. Well that doesn’t happen anymore, people have now gone local.
“So all your big companies would normally come in on a relocation package, the sales market is still very good. The rental market, because they were waiting for relocation packages to pay for the rents, your high end rentals are sitting on the market.”
Those feeling the brunt of the decline in oil price are now property owners who are struggling to get renters for the homes on offer.
“It’s hard for those who have invested in property lots of people invested in these high end rentals to feed the market and never saw this lower oil price coming. It’s local investors who have been affected,” Ramsay added.
She said business is still good despite the current challenges, with Lorna still using her expertise to help people settle in their new city.
The Aberdonian said: “I’m from Aberdeen, to help people from Aberdeen move into Houston is just a huge benefit because we all speak English- but it’s a very different English. To be able to translate the procedure.
“You buy a house in 30 days in Houston so it’s very different approach and very different experience than you would have here buying a house.
“Just to have the knowledge, I do relocation as well so I have knowledge not only of the house but of the schooling, you have no social security number when you arrive, you’ve got no driving licence when you arrive.
“To be able to have someone to oversee and help you is important.
“There’s not as big an influx of people, but there are still people coming in and I’m still busy but not as busy.
“At one point In Houston there was 10 to 12,000 people a month coming in so that’s really not happening now.
“I’m not quite sure what the figure is now. There’s still quite a lot in Houston, there’s still lots of diversity in business it’s not all oil and gas like Aberdeen is.”
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