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Real Estate News Releases
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(EstateNewsWire.com, November 13, 2012 ) Bicester, U.K -- Ohio’s boom in shale oil and gas exploration and production is not only enriching some natural resources companies, but also boosting prices for land and real estate. As oil and gas operations draw more workers to the area, investors from the U.S. and beyond are shopping for residential, commercial and farm properties.
The Ohio government official heading the state’s effort to encourage shale oil and gas development in its Utica shale area says it already has nearly as many wells as the longer-established Marcellus shale area in western Pennsylvania, West Virginia, New York and parts of eastern Ohio.
Central Ohio’s Utica shale area has been estimated to hold recoverable reserves of as much as 5.5 billion barrels of oil and 15.7 trillion cubic feet of natural gas – twice the known reserves in Yemen. The CEO of Chesapeake Energy, an early driller there, has said the shale area could be the biggest thing to hit Ohio’s economy “since maybe the plow.” Other companies drilling there for shale oil and gas now include BP, Royal Dutch Shell, Exxon Mobil, Devon Energy, Range Resources Corp. and others.
Jeff Byce, a real estate broker, appraiser and auctioneer in Youngstown, Ohio, reports he has seen both land prices and auction attendance climb by around 25% this year. Auctions have long been popular for selling farm properties and raw land, Byce adds, but the upswing in business has led his firm to take on added auctioneers in the Cleveland market and upper Trumbull County.
Adding to the volume increase is the relatively new trend of holding separate auctions for a property and for its oil and mineral rights. Byce notes the Ohio Department of Agriculture has been training auctioneers on how to sell mineral rights at auction. He also adds investment groups from as far away as Europe and Australia are being represented at Ohio auctions, attracted by the competitive prices and lucrative prospects for the area’s booming oil and gas operations.
Real estate broker Anthony Kaufman says the energy boom has also set off a real estate boom in affected areas. Home prices have seen less of a jump than either land or rental properties, he says, estimating 3% to 5% annual increases.
Global and domestic investors not only are looking for oil and gas properties, but also residential properties to rent to workers coming to the new energy production areas. As energy exploration and production teams move into the area, investors are scrambling to find properties able to offer housing to the usually well-paid crews, sometimes by converting residences into apartments. In some areas, rents have nearly doubled, and in a few locations, shortages of rental properties have developed.
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Source: EmailWire.Com 
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