Growth in the U.S. energy industry is expected to create 3.5 million American jobs by 2035, according to industry reports from I.H.S. Global Insight. Twenty per cent of these jobs will be created in the next two years.

Rising employment in the energy industry is driving heated competition for prime real estate, primarily in cities where the oil and gas industry is booming. According to Jones Lang LaSalle, the majority of commercial real estate opportunities resulting from this job growth will be in Dallas, Denver, Houston, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and north of the border in Calgary. These cities, which are situated nearby rural areas experiencing a rise in energy activity, will benefit from up to 75 per cent of the anticipated energy industry job growth.

“The rapid growth in domestic oil and gas production has made a large but uneven impact on the U.S. economy,” says Bruce Rutherford, Jones Lang LaSalle’s international director and energy practice leader. “In the top energy cities, commercial real estate markets are booming, with growth creating scarcity and, thus, a landlord-favourable market. This applies not only to offices but also to retail, hotel, multi-family, industrial and distribution facilities and sites.”

The creation of new jobs in the energy industry is also spurring an increased demand for multi-family housing and retail space. Jones Lang LaSalle estimates that the energy sector’s impact on U.S. apartment demand likely contributed to nearly 25 per cent of total unit absorption since 2002. On the retail sector front, employment growth in Houston, for example, totalled 4.4 per cent over the last year – almost triple the growth rate of the entire country.