Institute For Regional Forecasting
Houston's Resource for Economic Developments,
Trends and Forecasting
Houston Update
Update: Published April 6, 2023: Dr. Bill Gilmer has updated his post titled "Houston Waiting for the Recession: How Soon? How Deep?."
Published March 17, 2023: Dr. Bill Gilmer has written an update on the economic outlook for Houston titled "Houston Waiting for the Recession: How Soon? How Deep?."
Houston Update
Published Dec. 19, 2022: Dr. Bill Gilmer has written an update on the economic outlook for Houston titled "Houston Moves On from the Virus: But an Inflation Outbreak and Fed Policy Bring No Growth Ahead."
Houston Update
Published Sept. 14, 2022: Dr. Bill Gilmer has written an update on the economic outlook for Houston titled "Slower Growth Ahead as the Fed Lowers the Hammer: Houston Economic Update 2022-2028."
An Overview of Houston Real Estate: Life on the Other Side of the Pandemic
May 13, 2022 Update to Previous Slides:
These slides were prepared as background material for a presentation to the NAMMBA Connect Tour Conference in Houston on March 17, 2022.
Annex Marks the Spot: Houston's Suburban Gold
Texas A&M University Texas Real Estate Center | By Dr. Bill Gilmer and Adriana Fernandez
In 2019, the City of Houston collected $706.9 million in sales tax revenues, with $120.7 million (17.1 percent) collected from 230 suburban Municipal Utility Districts (MUDs) located outside the city limits. Read the full article.
Houston After COVID-19: Taking Stock and Looking Forward
"Houston After COVID-19: Taking Stock and Looking Forward" was recorded on June 15, 2021 via Zoom.
Fall 2020 Bi-Annual
Economic Symposium
Due to COVID-19 and social distancing guidelines in place we are unable to hold our bi-annual symposium that was scheduled for Monday, November 9, 2020, however, Dr. Gilmer had his presentation videotaped for everyone to view at their convenience. "Houston and COVID-19: Are We Nearing the End-Game?" was recorded on October 26, 2020 via Zoom.
Webinar - May 6, 2020
Dr. Robert W. "Bill" Gilmer hosted a webinar with an update on the economy titled "Houston’s Economy in the Wake of COVID-19 and the Oil War."
Fall 2019 Bi-Annual Economic Symposium
Our Fall Symposium "Houston and Recession: Likely or Not? Domestic or Global? And Why Should We Care?" was held on Tuesday, November 19, 2019 at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Houston, Texas. Dr. Bill Gilmer, Director of the Institute for Regional Forecasting, was our speaker. We would like to give a big thank you to our Fall 2019 symposium sponsors and are grateful for their support.
Do Falling Oil Prices Mean Trouble Ahead for Houston's Economy?
Forbes Blog Post | By Dr. Bill Gilmer
There are plenty of reasons to be concerned about Houston’s economy: a national and global slowdown, a trade war with China, and political and economic problems emerging across Europe. For Houston, we add oil prices that have slipped from $65 per barrel in 2018 to only $57 through the first nine months of this year, and credit markets that have turned their back on the fracking industry. We are seeing an on-going credit crunch among local oil producers and service companies. Read the full article.
Hurricane Harvey and Resilience in Houston's Economy
Slide presentation by Dr. Bill Gilmer put together in January 2019 which serves as a final round-up on Hurricane Harvey.
Houston's Favorite Forecaster
Houston Chronicle profile | By John C. Roper
When Bill Gilmer stepped up to the podium on Nov. 20, 2014, for his popular semi-annual Houston regional economic forecast, he told the crowd of nearly 1,000 that he had originally planned to focus his talk on labor shortages that could hamper the region’s booming economy in the coming year.
Gilmer, the director of the Institute for Regional Forecasting at the University of Houston’s Bauer College of Business, spent months preparing his presentation, only to change it several weeks before he addressed the crowd as oil prices plummeted and caught him and other economists off guard.
"Things have changed in Houston," Gilmer told the crowd. Read the full article.
Proximity Counts: How Houston Dominates the Oil Industry
Forbes Blog Post | By Dr. Bill Gilmer
Say Detroit, and people think cars. Houston is no different. The city's oil and gas industry is a broad reflection of the industry as a whole, from the oil and gas extraction, oil services, machinery and fabricated metals that make up the upstream sector to the midstream pipeline construction and management; the Houston Ship Channel is home to a major downstream refining and petrochemical complex. This article focuses narrowly on Houston’s upstream oil business and explains why it stands well apart from other oil-producing cities like Midland, Tulsa or Oklahoma City. Read the full article.
How Houston Survived the Great Oil Bust of 2015-16
Forbes Blog Post | By Dr. Bill Gilmer
In November 2014, OPEC announced it would no longer serve as swing producer in world oil markets, triggering what would arguably become the worst downturn in the history of American oil. Based on the rate of decline of the rig count, the number of rigs left working at the worst of it, the lost oil jobs or the fall in capital expenditure, the 2015-16 oil downturn rivaled or exceeded that of the 1980s. Read the full article.
H-Town: Houston and Hurricanes
Texas A&M Real Estate Center | By Dr. Bill Gilmer
Since 1983, eight severe weather events have each caused a billion dollars or more in damages in Houston. While the city has proven economically resilient after each storm, better flood management and infrastructure remain a challenge. Read the full article.
Another OPEC Promise: Fool Me Twice, Shame On Me
Forbes Blog Post | By Dr. Bill Gilmer
OPEC is back again, with an extension of its November 2016 accord that – subject to review – will extend its existing production quotas through 2018. The oil market responded by pushing oil prices up quickly and sharply to near $60 at year end. Read the full article.
Econ 101 And The Oil Markets: Where Are We? And How Did We Get Here?
Forbes Blog Post | By Dr. Bill Gilmer
Forecasting the future is next to impossible. It is hard enough just to figure out where you are and how you got there. But I think we can find some perspective on current oil markets by applying the elementary logic of Econ 101 to the current price collapse. Throw in a few facts about the size of oil markets and how they work, apply a little informed speculation and we actually know a lot about where oil prices are and why – and even where prices are going. Read the full article.
Why Are Oil Prices So Hard To Forecast?
Forbes Blog Post | By Dr. Bill Gilmer
For the oil forecasting community, the most recent collapse in oil prices marks one more failure. The long trail of forecast errors includes the market implosions of 1982 and 1986, not seeing the run-up in commodity prices after 2004 and now missing the end of the same commodity boom. For those of us who depend on oil price forecasts, this is a big problem. Read the full article.
Upstream Bust Meets Downstream Boom In Houston:
The East Side Earns Some Respect
Forbes Blog Post | By Dr. Bill Gilmer
The oil industry divides itself between upstream exploration, production and oil services, and downstream refining and petrochemical operations that turn crude oil and natural gas into useful products. Since 1980, Houston’s upstream sector has been through five major downturns in drilling, all with adverse consequences for the local economy. The current drilling downturn — the worst since the 1980’s – has hit Houston’s West Side particularly hard. Read the full article.
Contact Us
Program Manager
Patsy Woods
Phone: 713-743-3869
Email: [email protected]
University of Houston
C. T. Bauer College Of Business
Institute for Regional Forecasting
4250 Martin Luther King Boulevard, Room 334
Houston, TX 77204-6021
www.bauer.uh.edu/irf
Media Inquiries
Jessica Navarro
Executive Director, Communications
Phone: 713-743-4348
Email: [email protected]
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