HOUSTON—As West Texas' Permian Basin region continues toexperience phenomenal growth and miniscule unemployment,Taylor Consulting, Inc. (TAYO) is making plans tomove forward with a number of real estate acquisitions in theregion.

Across Texas, drilling activity continues to attract newresidents and create jobs. The state's population growth hasaveraged 1.7% annually over the past three years, more than doublethe national average. The Permian Basin, anchored by Midland andOdessa, has several shale plays that will likely produce more than1.3 million barrels of oil per day by 2017, according to many oilindustry experts.

That projection has led to extraordinary populationgrowth. National Real Estate Investor reportedthis week that annual effective-rent growth in the Midland-Odessametro was 6.3 percent during the first quarter of this year. Thearea's 97.5 percent occupancy rate is one of the highest in thecountry, while first-quarter 2014 revenue growth of 5.4 percentalso topped the charts.