2 posts tagged “real estate”
November 2008
My family and I just returned from a 12 day overland journey into Mexico for a pretty amazing adventure. There were so many incredible things to share about the special time that we spent there and the absolutely incredible beauty of San Miguel de Allende, Patzcuaro, Zacatecas and the Pacific Coast. I think the most profound thing was the way that we were so completely disconnected from the busi-ness of our daily lives and the way that we were able to really re-connect as a family. Our boys Niko and Gabe are now 8 and 12 respectively and it’s pretty clear that we’re living on borrowed time before the teenage years hit.
On that Friday we came back through San Antonio on our final leg to Austin from Zacatecas (a stunningly beautiful colonial city), and we tuned into the local NPR affiliate there and learned of the complete economic meltdown happening in the stock market and in the financial sector. What a change 12 days can make.
So what does this mean for the housing market? Well, the housing market has fared one heck of a lot better than the stock market generally on the national scale, and in a few pockets (Austin being one of them), the housing market has stayed pretty robust, thank you very much. There was an article that just came out the other day in Forbes that I’d like to share with you that gives you a picture of what’s happening in Austin as a stark contrast to the rest of the country. Below is a snapshot and enclosed is the full article.
The economic storm sweeping the country has left Americans with few places to hide. But those looking to hunker down might want to head to Texas, where they can get the best value for their dollar. That's because Austin and San Antonio lead our list of places where your money goes farthest. Residents of both enjoy affordable housing and promising prospects for job growth in coming years.[1]
If you have any questions about the current status of the housing market in Austin or would just like to talk about what’s happening in your neighborhood, I’d be happy to hear from you. Feel free to call me at 512-633-4650 or email me at Sam@ArcherAustin.com. I’ve invested in some new tools that I think will help give you a better picture of Austin on a per neighborhood basis - with data provided on a weekly basis. If you’d like to receive these reports on an ongoing basis so you can keep on top of local real estate trends let me know. I’m really excited to share this with you. Even if folks aren’t thinking of buying or selling in the near term everyone seems to be perennially curious about the market. It seems to be handily outperforming the stock market at this point.
Thanks and All the Best!
Sam
Sept. home sales down 8% in Central Texas
Austin Business Journal
Austin area home sales dropped 8 percent last month compared with September 2007, new data shows.
Some 1,670 homes sold last month, contributing about $407 million to the local economy, according to the latest multiple listing service report from the Austin Board of Realtors.
The average amount of time homes are spending on the market rose 18 percent in the last year to 71 days. Meanwhile, active listings are up 2 percent to 10,217 and pending sales have dropped 10 percent to 1,520.
The tougher sales market has put area prices—which had been rising steadily prior to the downturn—in check. The median home price is the same as it was last September, $186,600.
“National economic troubles and limited access to credit continue to impact the local housing industry,” says Socar Chatmon-Thomas, the chairman of the Austin Board of Realtors. Still, Chatmon-Thomas says Austin is managing to avoid some of the pitfalls other cities in the country are seeing and should be able to help lead the economic turnaround.
