Fracking boom and related RE boom ending?
With Europe looking more and more like it is sliding into recession, the surging dollar and the Saudis not cutting back on their much cheaper to produce crude oil production, there is a potential for the fracking boom to end. According to the WSJ "while fracking costs run the gamut, producers often break even around $80 to $85." West Texas intermediate crude closed at $85 a barrel yesterday. Obviously, fracking is here to stay, but the levels of production are the key to a continued boom and without the boom RE prices in heavy fracking areas such as Texas, Northern Colorado and North Dakota may be negatively affected so be aware!
Of course, there are several heavy oil producing countries, such as Venezuela and Russia, who need high crude oil prices to sustain their weak economies. Would it surprise anyone if Putin does something to heighten international tensions and thus push crude oil prices higher. Also, if the US could ever realize now would be a good time to be exporting LNG, particularly with ongoing tensions from Putin's invasion of Crimea and his support for Russian rebels in Ukraine.
Sorry I'm not trying to argue geopolitics here, but I think those of you in areas with a lot of fracking you need to be thinking about what happens if/when the boom ends. See what happened to Texas in the late 80s when the price of crude dropped. Yes, I know that Texas is much less dependent upon crude as in the past, but it will still have strong effects if the boom turns to bust.
One last point, undoubtedly technology and experience will lower fracking costs, but there are a lot of costs which will not be affected by improved technology or a concentration on winning techniques.