By José Martinez
The thousands of potential millionaires created by SpaceX’s initial public offering may push up housing values in Brownsville and, in some cases, drive up homeowners’ property tax bills, according to a Texas-based housing economist.
The caution comes amid years of increasing property values in Brownsville, outpacing increases in neighboring cities, and as housing affordability remains a challenge.
“At least on paper, everyone may feel richer, but for a lot of the modest to low-income households, I wonder about to what extent they directly benefit from the housing boom and also wonder about potential gentrification or displacement,” Yanling Mayer, a research economist at the Texas Real Estate Research Center housed at Texas A&M University, told the Rio Grande Valley Business Journal.
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