Austin Real Estate News

Builder Online just updated its top healthiest housing markets, and Austin came in at #1. Here’s why:

“Even though it took a step backward during the last six months, Austin happens to be the only market on our list that is genuinely close to healthy. Home prices, which rose in 2008, finally declined this year—they are down 4.6% through September—as this Texas metro ended a long run of employment growth and lost some jobs. But its population has expanded by 4.3% during the first half of 2009, which should add housing demand and help firm up home pricing. It was the same story with Austin-area employment numbers, which remained in positive territory until mid-2009, when its manufacturing segment began losing jobs. Still, unemployment in this progressive city runs only about 7%, significantly below the national average. Dell Computer is Austin’s largest employer, with about 17,000 jobs. Austin continues to draw population, especially retirees, with its low cost of living, inexpensive housing, and warm-weather climate. The city had the third highest household growth rate in percentage terms among the top 100 market. Even so, permit activity fell by 38% during the first half of the year.”

Read the whole story here:  Healthiest Housing Markets 2009: Fall Update

The Wall Street Journal reported last Wednesday that Austin ranks #5 in its list of “11 Post-Recession Boomtowns”.  “The Wall Street Journal sought out six of the nation’s leading experts to rank the 10 U.S. cities they see as most likely to emerge as ‘youth magnet’ cities after the recession—popular target destinations among young, college-educated, often single people setting out to start a career, find a mate or both.” While the Journal itself notes that the rankings are not scientific (calling the effort a “parlor game”), expert demographers, economists, geographers, and urban issues authors were among the panelists.

The rankings appear below, as well as the details on why Austin made the list.

1. Washington D. C. (tie)

2. Seattle (tie)

3. New York City

4. Portland, Ore.

5. Austin, TX

6. San Jose, CA

7. Denver

8. Raleigh Durham, N.C.

9. Dallas

10. Chicago (tie)

10. Boston (tie)

“Fifth Place:  Austin, Texas

Topline: Nobody ever has anything bad to say about Austin. At least that’s what its fans say.

A state capital and site of the University of Texas’s biggest campus, Austin has become a gathering place for tech- and arts-minded young adults. The city has significant high-tech, computer and electronics sectors, helping make it “a model for a thriving 21st-century knowledge-based community,” one panelist says. Its annual South by Southwest media and arts conference and the yearly Austin City Limits music festival draw hundreds of thousands of visitors. Plus, the climate is cooler than most of Texas, and the cost-of-living is well below other cultural hot spots.

Downside: Some panelists have doubts about how strongly Austin will rebound after the recession. ”

See the full story at The Next Youth-Magnet Cities.