Texas #1 for Women Entrepreneurs

NYC: The Federal Reserve cut its main interest rate by 25 basis point, the first reduction since the financial crisis, calling the move “a mid-cycle adjustment to policy,” rather than the start of a more aggressive cycle of monetary easing. The Federal Open Market committee hinted at future rate cuts. The Fed also said it would cut the interest rate it pays banks to keep their excess reserves at the central bank from 2.35 percent to 2.1 percent, another move to stimulate lending and put money into the economy. The latest Fed median economic growth projections are 2.1 percent in 2019, 2 percent in 2020, and 1.8 percent in 2021.

DFW: A 19-story mixed-use tower is planned at Boll Street and McKinney Avenue. Plans include 290 residential units, 60,000-square feet of office space and 15,000-square feet of retail, with underground parking.  

Charlotte: Using data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Survey of Entrepreneurs, LendingTree.com analyzed U.S. cities with the largest gain in businesses with at least $1 million in revenue from 2014 to 2016, as reported in the Dallas Business Journal. Dallas and New York had the same percent change at 5.2% with Dallas’ 1,927 firms and New York’s 6,568 such businesses. In Texas, Austin was #1 at adding million dollar businesses with a 15.1% rate, followed by San Antonio at 9%.  

Kansas City: The Kauffman Foundation, a nonprofit that promotes entrepreneurship, ranks Texas fifth in the U.S. for startups. FitSmallBusiness.com ranked Texas #1 for women entrepreneurs, mentioning a lack of corporate and income taxes, a healthy business and economic environment, good living standards, women’s health care and a high rate of startup growth.  

College Station: Texas job creation of 315,000 from June 2018 to June 2019, a growth rate of 2.5%, surpassed the nation’s 1.5% rate. The state unemployment rate of 3.4% was lower than the national 3.7%. Leisure and hospitality was first in job growth, followed by education and health services, construction, and professional and business services. Dallas-Plano-Irving ranked first in job creation.  

Miami: The average house sold in Miami Beach and its barrier islands was 20% smaller in the second quarter versus a year ago. Luxury condos averaged only 89% as big as last year. Miami mansions, averaging 7,500-square feet, dropped the median price of luxury single family homes by 20%, to $8.6 million. South American buyers have pulled out of the market and buyers from high-tax northern states are coming in. Sales have shrunk on the mainland also, with the average luxury home 400-square feet smaller, and in Palm Beach the average size shrank more than one-fifth to 4,375-square feet, still double the average size in Ft. Lauderdale.  

Aspen: With the best snowfall in 30 years, single-family, condo and luxury home sales rose 29% for homes over $10 million. Median prices for single-family were down 12% to $2.05 million, and median prices for luxury homes rose 2.1% to $13.5 million.  

London: A summer retreat of Winston Churchill, in Surrey, England, is available for rent. Hoe Farm, an eight-bedroom, 16th-century home about 40 miles southwest of London will lease for $11,800 per month.  

Carmel: The Seven Coves of Spindrift, a five-house waterfront property, is on the market for $52.375 million. The residential compound overlooking the Pacific is the consolidation of four separate prior independent coastal properties, a 12-year project. The five houses on the 4.1 acre tract overlooking nearly 1,000 feet of coastline comprise 17,000-square feet with 12 bedrooms, 13 bathrooms and garage space for six cars.