The Houston Mortgage Bankers Association held its first luncheon meeting of 2018 on Wednesday, January 10 at Maggiano’s restaurant on Post Oak Boulevard. HMBA President Joe Thompson began the meeting by presenting the organization’s Lifetime Achievement Award to attorney and HMBA board member Mac Gibson. A board member for more than 20 years., Gibson is the founder and head partner of M. D. Gibson & Associates.

Featured speaker for the noon event was David Jarvis, Senior Vice President of John Burns Real Estate Consulting. Jarvis delivered a positive assessment of the Houston economy as of the end of 2017 and forecast a rising economy in the year ahead.

“Home builders in Houston had a good year and a much better December than we expected,” Jarvis noted. “For 2018, we believe that realtors will sell more homes than ever and that MLS will hit an all-time high. We expect that home builders will sell eight to nine percent more homes.”

“There’s also good news in the oil patch,” Jarvis continued. “Texas crude production is up nine percent and the rig count is up 135 percent since it hit bottom in 2016. Energy-sector lay-offs are down and the price of oil looks good. It’s going to be a good year.”

Thompson closed the meeting by reminding everyone to register for the Top Agent Panel Breakfast coming on February 13 at the Post Oak Conference Center. Visit https://www.houston-mba.com for tickets and details.