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Highlighting the dynamic economy of Texas, northern Louisiana and southern New Mexico

Laila Assanie, Lorenzo Garza and Kelly Klemme

A fair amount of excess supply remains in some markets, and new properties are facing longer lease-up timelines.

Ken Simonson, chief economist for the Associated General Contractors of America, discusses the state of commercial construction in Texas and the U.S., including ongoing office and data center activity.

Robert Leigh and Pia Orrenius

Texas economic output grew in 2025 but did so with near-zero job growth. The last time that happened was in 2002–03, when the state emerged from the dot-com bust into an extended jobless recovery.

Isabel Brizuela, Jesus Cañas and Robert Leigh

Despite a relatively stable peso-dollar exchange rate that would normally favor shopping in the U.S., Mexican consumers increasingly stay closer to home.

Samuel Dodini, Jeanna Kenney, Kamran Haq and Isabel Dhillon

A pandemic-era period of relatively low interest rates and rising house prices drew a record number of new real estate agents to the field. Home prices have since remained high, but elevated interest rates and slowing sales have made the industry less attractive.

Jim Burke, president and chief executive officer of Vistra Corp., the largest competitive power producer in the country, discusses the outlook for electric power generation in Texas as data centers and artificial intelligence demands are expected to reframe the business.

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Southwest Economy

Southwest Economy is published by the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas. The views expressed are those of the authors and should not be attributed to the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas or the Federal Reserve System.

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