Texas’ size is the stuff of legend. The Internet Movie Database catalogs more than 2,100 films under the keyword “Texas.” Among them is the 1956 classic starring Elizabeth Taylor, Rock Hudson, and James Dean. The title says it all. Giant.

Indeed, Texas is big. So is the real estate business here. Getting a grip on just how big falls to Ali Anari, Ph.D., research economist for the Real Estate Center at Texas A&M University. Anari studies the real estate industry’s role in the state’s economy. His latest findings are compiled in the Texas Real Estate Industry Review, 2008.
Real estate is the third most important Texas private industry, says Anari. His report shows just how important real estate is to the Lone Star State.

There is nearly $63,200 worth of real estate for every Texan. In 2007, that was a staggering $1.5 billion. Single-family residences alone accounted for $847.2 billion or 56% of the state’s real estate wealth. Multifamily housing added another $77 billion, a little more than 5%.

Nearly 7.5% of all housing units in the United States are in Texas. And nearly 13% of all building permits issued last year were in … you guessed it … Texas.

The real estate industry accounted for 7.8% of Texas’ total gross domestic product (GDP) in 2006, ranking behind manufacturing (13.4%) and mining (9.8%).
People with lower incomes find Texas homes more affordable than elsewhere in the United States as a whole. The percentage of houses owned by those with an annual income of less than $25,000 was higher in Texas last year than for the nation.

Here are some more highlights from the 2008 report.

• Every $1 million of revenue in the Texas real estate industry generates just over half a million dollars of revenue in other parts of the state economy.
• Every $1 million of revenue in the Texas real estate industry generates 5.16 jobs in the state real estate industry and five jobs in other industries.
• $1 million of sales tax in the state’s real estate industry leads to a total of $1.26 million of sales tax in the Texas economy.
• The real estate industry has the largest proportion of self-employed persons of all industries.
• Nearly 552,000 people, including self-employed individuals, were working in the Texas real estate industry in 2007, representing 3.9% of statewide employment. If you include those working in rental and leasing, the number jumps to more than 635,000 or 4.5% of the total.
• Texas commercial real estate was valued at more than $251 billion in 2007. Texas industrial real estate was valued at more than $85 billion.
• The state’s real estate industry paid 18.7% of total Texas business taxes in 2007.
• Real estate owners paid an estimated $24 billion in school taxes in 2007.

And if you still don’t believe Texas has room to grow, consider this. Last year Texas still had $37.8 billion in vacant lots and $70.4 billion in rural land.
So if you don’t have your $63,200 worth of Texas real estate, chances are there’s a real estate professional nearby who’ll be glad to help. According to the Real Estate Center, as of September there were 123,857 active Texas real estate licensees. Of those, about 90,000 are Texas REALTORS®, members of the Texas Association of REALTORS®.

The full industry review is available on the Center’s Web site.