$67 Billion a Year Crosses the Valley's Bridges. Mark Hanna Wants Investors to Know What That Means for Real Estate.
Ask most people in the Rio Grande Valley about Mexico and they'll tell you about family, food and weekend trips across the bridge. Ask Mark Hanna and he'll tell you about all of that, and then show you the numbers.
Hanna, a CCIM and Managing Director of SVN | Hanna Solutions Commercial Real Estate in McAllen, has released "Mexico Next Door: One Economy Across the Border," the November 2026 edition of his firm's South Texas Market Intelligence series. The seven-page briefing makes a case that anyone doing business in the Valley should hear: our customer base doesn't stop at the river.
"For us, Mexico has never felt like some distant foreign market," Hanna writes. "It's part of our everyday lives."
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A MARKET THAT REACHES INTO ANOTHER COUNTRY
Hanna frames it the way any business owner would. You grow by selling more to the customers you have, or by reaching new ones. In the Valley, the new customers are right next door.
The research pulls together public data from TxDOT, federal trade and crossing records, Travel Texas and other sources. Among the findings:
- $67.1 billion in U.S.-Mexico goods trade moved through Rio Grande Valley ports of entry in 2024, with $39.5 billion coming north and $27.6 billion heading south.
- About two-thirds of that trade, 66.6 percent, moved through the Hidalgo port of entry, which includes the Anzalduas, McAllen-Hidalgo and Pharr-Reynosa bridges.
- Valley ports recorded about 12.4 million northbound passenger-vehicle crossings, 6.6 million pedestrian crossings and 1.17 million commercial-truck crossings in 2024.
- 5.8 million Mexican residents made overnight trips to Texas in 2024. Mexico is Texas's largest international visitor market, and most of those visitors drive.
- Mexico ranked second only to Canada among foreign buyers of U.S. homes in the latest national Realtors survey.
"These are not projections," Hanna writes. They're reported trade, travel and crossing figures from public sources.
MONTERREY, THREE HOURS AWAY
One of the report's sharpest points is how close the Valley sits to Monterrey, one of Mexico's most important industrial and business centers. The metro area had about 5.34 million residents in Mexico's 2020 census and sits roughly 150 miles, about a three-hour drive, from McAllen.
It's even closer by air. McAllen International Airport launched daily nonstop service to Monterrey in March 2026, and Brownsville has had a Monterrey nonstop since 2024. Reynosa and Matamoros sit directly across from Hidalgo and Cameron counties, and Mexico City, with more than 21 million metro residents, adds a much larger market farther south.
"A business operating in the Rio Grande Valley isn't necessarily limited to the purchasing power of its immediate community," Hanna writes.
WHERE THE DEMAND SHOWS UP
This is where the report turns practical for investors, developers and business owners. Hanna breaks cross-border demand down by property type:
Retail: Regional centers, restaurants and value retail near the bridges and main corridors draw from both local and cross-border shoppers. Mexican shoppers were supporting the Valley economy before La Plaza Mall opened in McAllen in 1976, and Dallas Fed research found Valley retail draws especially strongly from Monterrey.
Industrial: $67.1 billion in annual trade needs warehouses, distribution space, cold storage, trucking and logistics sites. Properties tied to the bridges and freight corridors carry a built-in advantage.
Hospitality: Mexican visitors to Texas averaged 4.7 nights per trip, and 65 percent stayed in paid lodging, according to Travel Texas. That's steady demand for hotels serving shoppers, business travelers and families.
Office and professional services: Banks, law firms, medical practices and financial advisors serve clients whose business and personal lives cross the border every day.
Residential: Second homes, rentals and student housing all draw on Mexican buyers and families with ties on both sides.
Hanna is clear that location still matters. "Not every property benefits equally from international demand," he writes. Access, infrastructure, pricing and the surrounding market all count. But knowing where the demand comes from gives investors a better read on any deal.
A CLEAR-EYED VIEW OF THE RISKS
Part of what makes the report useful is that it doesn't oversell. Hanna flags the factors that can swing cross-border business:
- Trade policy. The U.S. declined to renew the USMCA in its current form at the July 2026 joint review. The agreement remains in force, now with annual reviews.
- Currency. A weaker peso has historically cut into Mexican spending in McAllen, while a stronger peso helps.
- Shared exposure. When pandemic travel restrictions hit in 2020, Texas border counties were estimated to lose $4.9 billion in economic output over eight months.
"The relationship creates tremendous opportunity, but it also creates shared economic exposure," Hanna writes. His answer is to keep investing in infrastructure, crossings, workforce and the relationship itself.
THE BIGGER PICTURE
For Hanna, the numbers back up something Valley families have always known. "The border separates two countries," he writes. "But economically, socially, and culturally, our communities have always been connected."
He believes commercial real estate will keep playing a central role in turning that connection into growth, and that the Valley's best years are ahead.
GET THE REPORT
"Mexico Next Door: One Economy Across the Border" covers trade volumes through Valley ports, crossing activity, Monterrey and Mexico City market access, Mexican consumer and investment indicators, commercial real estate implications by property type, and full methodology and references. It's part of SVN | Hanna Solutions' South Texas Market Intelligence series, which organizes public data to help investors, business owners and community leaders understand opportunities across South Texas.
Download the report and contact the team:
SVN | Hanna Solutions Commercial Real Estate
Mark Hanna, CCIM, Managing Director
1001 E Jackson Ave, Suite A, McAllen, TX 78501
(956) 322-4001
Data in this feature comes from SVN | Hanna Solutions' November 2026 report and the public sources it cites, including TxDOT, the U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics, Travel Texas (Office of the Governor), the National Association of Realtors and the City of McAllen.
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