Austin Real Estate News

From the AUSTIN REALTOR, February 2007. Published by the Austin Board of REALTORS

Austin Home Sales Show Steady Growth in 2006
Single-family home sales in December were higher than during the same period in 2005, capping another record year for the Austin-area housing market. Certain parts of the Austin metropolitan proved especially popular with buyers in 2006. Houses in Areas N and SW, which respectively border Hays and Williamson counties, sold particularly quickly. Homes in Area N decreased their average time on the market by 20 days, while the amount of time those in Area SW sat on the market dropped by 21 days.Hays County also posted notable gains, with Area HH’s record 1,125 home sales besting the previous year by 236. Average days on market for these homes was 69 days in 2006, a decrease of 8 days from 2005. 

The Austin Board of Realtors reported another record year for single family home sales with a 10% increase in number sold for 2006 as compared to 2005, and a 6% median price increase to $174,500 at the end of 2006.
See all Austin Homes For Sale at Austin Home Listings.com.

The latest MLS report from the Austin Board of REALTORS indicates that the Austin real estate market continued to grow at a record pace in Nov 2006. Single family home sales increased six percent from one year ago, a record for the period. The median price for single family homes in the Austin area was $175,000, a 3% increase from last November. The $454,953,216 these sales contributed to the local economy reflects a 12% increase from last year. Current active listings increased by 3%, while new listings decreased by 3%.

This is what is known as a Seller’s Market. Plain and simple, seller’s are in better position to sell their home today than almost any other time in Austin’s history.  You may have heard that the nation is experiencing a housing slow down. Why is Austin different?  Well for one, the Austin housing market was hit pretty hard by the dot.com tech bust in 2000 which caused homes to drop significantly in value in a very short time period. In the subsequent years, the Austin housing market was slower to make a “come back” than other areas around the nation. So while cities on both coasts were experiencing one of the most rapid increases in home prices from 2002 – 2005, Austin housing price increases were much more moderate. Fast forward to 2006 and it appears that we have caught up the nation in the ‘mad dash’ run up in prices.  Are we now at the top and headed towards correction in Austin? No one knows for sure, but the economic indicators continue to point towards another banner year in 2007.  Attached below is a link to the City’s short term economic forecast.  In summary, the city economists are saying the following…

• All aggregate indicators of the Austin economy are very positive at this point – job growth, tax revenue, retail sales, building activity, etc. 

• Virtually every sector is growing, with the exception of manufacturing – should change in the near future. 

• In-migration and economic recovery have combined to create record levels of activity –reminiscent of several past booms.    

• Real estate and construction are especially hot…      

 Source: www.ci.austin.tx.us/budget/06-07/downloads/20060427_budgetpres_2007_forecast_realestate.pdf