Market Digest

Nationally, home sales are falling, unemployment is on the rise and the economy is expected to grow slowly.

The cities in the Rio Grande Valley area of South Texas are doing just fine, however. In Mission, Texas (part of the larger McAllen MSA), low unemployment, a strong housing market, coupled with solid growth in agriculture and manufacturing, have kept the area riding out the economic crisis plaguing the rest of the nation.

Mission-McAllen was ranked the best medium-sized city for jobs in the country. Job growth sectors have been retail, government, education and health care, which are unlikely to be going anywhere. The area’s current GDP (gross domestic product) is $15.6 billion and projected to increase to $16.6 billion by the end of 2010.

So what’s the driving force behind the border cities stable economy? A longstanding economic relationship between the Mission area and its Mexican sister cities.

NAFTA helped open the possibilities for international trade with Mexico and Canada. Today, cities like Mission, only minutes from the U.S.-Mexico border, are in the best position to capitalize on this market globalization.

Ties with Mexican Sister Cities

Eight international bridges connect the Mission area to the industrial border communities of Reynosa, Matamoros and Monterrey, Mexico and their combined population of more than 5 million. Less than a three hour drive away, Monterrey is Mexico’s third largest city and reportedly home to the country’s wealthiest neighborhood.

With Mission/McAllen as their nearest U.S. retail market, Mexican spending from retail to second homes and even banking, has been a part of life as long anyone can remember. Mexican disposable income accounted for more than a third of annual retail sales in 2008.

“This is a very unique international area. Communities on both sides of the border have been very cooperative in recent years in helping to make the area economy strong and secure,” said Pat Townsend Jr., CEO of the Mission Economic Development Authority.

America’s Newest International Crossing

The much anticipated Anzalduas International Bridge set to open in October 2009 will be one of the newest and largest border crossings in the country, and will directly connect Mission to Reynosa, Mexico.

Local officials expect a dramatic increase in traffic flow – industrial, retail, commercial and tourists – going to and from the border.

“Anything that helps expedite movement from the border to major markets in regions north will be beneficial,” said Townsend. “Businesses interested in the area simply need to see the enormous growth potential that the Anzalduas Bridge brings to the area.”

Source: Mission Economic Development Authority