Austin Real Estate Blog

The statistics are for September for the Austin real estate market. The statistics are a little weird this month. First let's look at the general stats.

The line we obviously want to pay attention to the most is the last one September 2008. First the total number of sales was 1670. This is down from 1942 last month. As we move into the winter this is pretty typical. Compared to last year sales are down 8 percent. At first this looks pretty good considering for the last several months we have been seeing a year over year decrease over 20%. But before we get too excited last year at this time was when the market first started to slow down. So we are basically comparing a slow market this year to a market that was in the middle of slowing down last year. Another interesting statistic is to look at sales for September for the last 3 years.

September 2006 2341
September 2007 1816
September 2006 1670

So from September 2006 when the market was pretty strong we are seeing a significant drop in sales (29%). Now that seems to fly in the face of the numerous news reports we have seen showing that Austin is one of the strongest real estate markets. First off that is more a sign of the weakness of the rest of country than the relative strength of the Austin real estate market. Also it's because Austin and Texas in general is considered to be in a better position than most markets because we didn't see large price increases over the last 8 years.

Ok let's keep moving through the stats. The average price is down 4 percent compared to last year. The Statesman made a big deal of this saying it's the first time Austin saw a drop in median prices in the last few years. The only issue here is that prices have down for quite some time. As we have discussed here before the reason it appeared that average prices were going up was because lowered priced homes were not selling as frequently because banks go rid of sub prime and no doc loans. The fact that lowered prices homes were not selling artificially increased average prices. So basically prices have been down for awhile.

Still I find it interesting that sales and prices are both down compared to last year. Basically the market slowed down very rapidly this time last year. Then it seemed the market held steady at the new slower pace. But looking at these numbers it seems like the market has slowed down a little over the last year.

Ok lets look at inventory we have 10,217 on the market. This is an increase of 2 percent compared to last year. Again this is much better than the 20 percent year to year increases in inventory we have been seeing but it's because this time last year was when the market started to slow down.

So what factors are currently weighing on the Austin real estate market? First the stock market is obviously hurting the market. Although it's not directly affecting Austin it's basically freaking people out. As a side note it's really hurting the economy in New York City due to the massive layoffs that are occurring in the financial industry. Anyway the stock market is certainly slowing down activity. In fact on days when the market plummets we get canceled appointments and talking to realtors around the country they are experiencing the same thing. Additionally the sour loan market is weighing on the market. Basically if someone can't get a loan they generally can't buy a house.

The government of course is doing whatever they can to stimulate the mortgage markets. And after the takeover of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae they have the ability to have more direct control over the mortgage market. We can expect that the government will do it what it can to make it easier to get a loan which should help the market. In addition, they recently passed a 5,000 tax credit for first time home buyers. This should provide a boost to the market. The Fed is also expected to cut rates this week bringing the fed rate to lowest point it has been in 4 years. And of course the 700 bailout for banks which is intended to influence banks to start lending. The question is whether the government's attempt to help the market will work.

So what is my advice for buyers looking for homes in the current market? I realize appreciation is not the only concern when buying a house but we are still seeing central Austin outperforming the suburbs. Also please ignore list price. I talk to so many people that think they are only getting a good deal if they buy 20% under list. Sometimes if you buy 20% under list you are getting a bad deal and sometimes if you buy above list you are getting a good deal. Buying for X percent under list doesn't mean anything (besides maybe talking about it at the water cooler the next day at work). In fact we put in an offer for a property yesterday (for us personally) at above list price. It's always better to get a good deal than simply get a property for under list.

Prices are down but loans are also harder to get. So while credit scores were less important 2 years ago they are important today. This means two basic things. It's a good idea to check credit scores early on in the home buying process and get rid of any issues that might be dragging it down. By boosting your credit score you have a better chance of getting a loan with a lower interest rate. The same can be said of down payments.
The more you can put down the better. Right now banks greatly prefer loans with higher down payments. And the days of 0 percent down payments are pretty much dead. So it's a good idea to save as much as possible. Also if you plan on getting a car and a house I would get the house first.

Lastly if you are getting a loan I would check mortgage rates somewhat frequently. Basically we are seeing a lot of flux with mortgage rates over the last few weeks. So if you lock in at say 6.25 it's probably worth it to check rates again in a week and see if you can relock at the lower rate. Just keep in mind once you get close to closing date you can't relock.

Moving on lets look at different segments of the market.

The year to date stats (the first graph) show us what we have seen before. The multifamily, lot, commercial and condo market is doing much worse than the residential market. I found the snapshot for September (the second chart a little more interesting. Basically compared to September 2007 sales for the single family market are down 8 percent but commercial sales are down 33%. Initially when the market slowed down last year the commercial market held up. In fact some commercial agents proclaimed that the commercial market would not be affected by the sub prime crisis but since then we have seen commercial market slow down quite a bit. We are also seeing a very weak multifamily market.

Below are the stats for the central Austin real estate market. We also have stats for the other mls areas
10N - 8E, 8W - HH, HS-HW, OT-WW

As always if you have any questions about the market in general or a particular property feel free to contact us. Also if you want to search properties currently for sale here is our Search for Austin Area Homes.

Posted by escapeso at 11:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The stats for August are out for the Austin real estate market. Home sales are down 20% from last year dropping from 2497 to 1992. The number of listings is up 5 percent rising from 9819 in August 2007 to 10348 in August 2008. Below are the stats for the last few years.

Some might see the year over year 5 percent increase in active listings as a positive sign since over the last few months the year to year increase in listings has been running around 20%. But personally I don't think things have improved. Why? This time last year was when things first started to go bad for the Austin real estate market. So last year in August we saw a large jump in the number of listings. So for the last few months we were comparing the stats for this year in a bad market to the stats for last year during a good market. But over the next 2 months that is going to change and we are going to be comparing this years stats in a bad market to last years stats during a bad market. The year to year sales statistics will start to look better next month as well. So if you see in the paper next month a big headline along the lines of "September Year to Year Sales Improve 50% from Last Month" know that it's not a sign that the market is improving.

So when we look at the sales for August 2008 why do we compare it to August 2007 instead of last month (July 2008)? Basically real estate is very cyclical. We tend to see the most sales and listings during summer and the fewest sales during the winter. An interesting side note during the initial downturn in areas like Phoenix when the market was moving into summer they cited that sales were increasing and saying the market was improving. Of course this was simply nonsense.

According to the stats average prices are up. We have been seeing this all year and I think it's pretty misleading. Prices are not up. Cheaper houses are simply not selling because when no doc and sub prime loans disappeared houses priced under 200k started selling much less frequently. This of course drove up average prices. But if you take any particular house in the Austin market it's probably worth less than it was this time last year. I have noticed some literature from the Austin board of Realtors that talks about prices are increasing. I have no idea why they are saying this. I think they think it will make people more likely to buy. But it doesn't make any sense. "The market is bad but prices are up therefore now is a good time to buy". Huh? I bought an investment property in the last few months. But I bought because it was priced lower than it would have been last year.

So in summary we are in the same position we have been in for several months. The Austin market is doing worse than it was in 2007. But that said Austin seems to be one of the more robust markets around the country. Why is that? Basically Austin didn't see the huge rise in values from 2002-2005 that other markets did. In Phoenix at one point people talked about 5% appreciation a month. The same thing happened in Florida. That simply never happened in Austin. Therefore during the downturn Austin is faring better than most.

OK moving on let's look at how different property types are doing in the Austin real estate market.

Single Family sales are down 19%. Condos are down 24%. This doesn't sound that bad but the problem is that the number of listings is up 63%. Sales for multifamily properties have dropped 45%. I talked to another realtor recently that said the multifamily market has died and I think that's a pretty good assessment. The market has been hurt by the fact that banks are pretty reluctant to give out loans for multifamily properties. So if someone is able to get a loan it might not be a bad time to look at multifamily properties. But I think it only makes sense to buy properties and plan on holding them and making positive cash flow. I would not buy multifamily properties with the idea of remodeling them and flipping. A lot of people have been flipping multifamily properties for the last few years.

The other idea with multifamily properties is instead of simply buying a multifamily property as an investment you could buy it instead of a house. I am a big proponent of this because it can substantially lower your mortgage payment. Now that the multifamily market has died often the cheapest property in a neighborhood is a duplex. So instead of buying a house for 200k you could buy a duplex for 180k. Then your mortgage is lower and you get rent from the other side. This of course only works if you don't need a lot of space.

Also while I like the multifamily market I don't like condos. Basically the multifamily market is down because of banks are not lending (something that should change when the market comes back) condos are down because there are too many condos (something that wont change when the market comes back).

The only part of the market that seems to be doing ok is the lease market. Leases and Commercial Leases are doing the same or slightly better than last year. Additionally rental prices have increased compared to last year.

Now let's look at the different segments of the Austin market. Here is a map for the Austin MLS boundaries

No real surprises here. Cental Austin continues to outperform the market in general. The East Austin real estate market has actually recovered a bit. Earlier this year it was by far the worst performing segment of the market. Now it has for the most part pulled even with the suburbs.

Now let's look at the different mls areas. Below in the table are the central Austin MLS areas.

The only thing that jumps out here is that areas 10N and 10S continue to be pretty strong. As always if you have any questions about the market in general or a particular property feel free to contact us. Also if you want to search properties currently for sale here is our search of the Austin MLS.

Posted by escapeso at 12:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Plans have been leaked over a proposed government bailout of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. While there have been rumors of this for the last few months, apparently it is quasi official, although the official announcement is going to come out tomorrow. So what are the details of the bailout?

First all the top executives and the board are going to be dismissed. I have mixed feelings on this. On the one had I am sick of CEO's walking away with millions after running their companies into the ground. But on the other hand I don't know if dismissing all the top executives and the board at the same time is a wise move. Once the Fed moves in, if they have questions it will be a little harder to get answers with basically the entire executive level of the corporation out of the picture. I would have preferred to see a few people stay around at base pay.

The stock has plummeting in the last month over fears that there would be a government takeover and it might possibly wipe out shareholders. The inside sources are saying that the shares will be diluted but not entirely wiped out. So basically the fears of investors were more or less well founded. The implications of this are probably why the plans were leaked today after the close of the stock market. [Full Disclosure : My investment firm has been selling Fannie and Freddie Mae short over the last month. I thought it was risky to short a company after it had already lost 90% of its value but I guess they were right.]

Now to the bigger question what does all this mean? First of all it means that as of today we are in the midst of a huge financial crisis. Taking over companies the size of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae is a big deal. It’s going to cost tens of billions of dollars o taxpayers and is the largest government takeover in US history. Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae provide insurance for half of loans issued in the US. Currently they own or provide insurance for 5 trillion in loans. Now the federal government provides insurance for 5 trillion in loans. This means if someone decides to not pay their mortgage instead of a bank coming after them the federal government could be knocking on their door.

What does it mean for the future? Oddly enough I have been waiting for this to happen and I think it could have a positive effect on the real estate market. Why? During the financing crisis Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae have added tons of loan restrictions which have hurt the real estate market. While some of these rules have simply gotten rid of the free wheeling money lending of the boom, others seem bizarrely restrictive. For instance there is a rule that individuals can only get 4 property loans regardless of income or credit score. So if someone has a few million dollars in the bank they could for instance only get 4 150k rental houses unless they wanted to pay cash. As you can guess these restrictions have hurt the real estate market. It’s assumed that with the US Government (which has been attempting to help the real estate market pull out of this mess) taking over Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae that they will remove some of the recent loan restrictions.

Are we likely to see more government bailouts? I don't think so. The Fed has made it clear that they are not going to let Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae fail but have basically said the same is not true of the smaller banks. So I think for small banks that run into problems they are going to fall instead of be taken over.

Posted by escapeso at 11:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (0)

The stats for July are out for the Austin real estate market. First let's look at the big picture. Compared to last year sales are down 21% (2621 to 2071) and active listings are up 15% (9451 to 10913). The 15% year to year increase in listings is the lowest we have seen over the last few months (from Dec 2007 to June 2008 the year to year increase in listings ranged from 19% to 24%). So does this mean this month's statistics point to the market turning around? No. Basically last year at this time was when the market first started slowing down and we started seeing more listings. Average prices are pretty much the same as last year and Median prices increased 2.7 percent from last year (189,900 to 195,000). So in summary the overall market is still down from 2007 but it seems to be holding steady at its new slower pace. Below are the month's stats for the last 3 years. And although the Austin real estate market is slower compared to the beginning of 2007, Austin is still considered one of the strongest markets in the country.

So let's break out the market by property type. First let's look at commercial properties.

Last year when the market started slowing down some optimistic commercial brokers predicted that the commercial market would remain strong throughout 2008 even while the residential market slowed down. In contrast it looks like the commercial market has been one of the worst performing markets. As the below chart shows, year-to-date sales are down 32% compared to last year. In contrast, sales in the residential market is only down 18% compared to last year.

The other property type that is down is Multifamily. Year-to-date multifamily sales are down 44% compared to last year. So what is pushing down the multifamily market? Basically lenders have gotten a lot tighter for multifamily loans. Many are requiring 30% down payments; additionally, most lenders are limiting individuals to have only 4 property loans. This has basically really slowed down the multifamily market. Therefore we are seeing lower prices and more properties that cashflow.

Ok let's look at the different areas of Austin.

Central West Austin is still the strongest market. East Austin is still slower because too many investors rushed in during 2007. But the good news for the east Austin real estate market is it seems to be improving. Back in January it was 6.68 months of inventory and now it is down to 5.67. The suburbs are doing worse than the market in general.

So what areas of the market do I like right now? As has been the case for awhile I still like area 10N and SWW (the area just south of Ben White, here's a map of the MLS areas). Basically the area is still pretty affordable and close to town. What's not to like.

So that's what I recommend. What would be the last thing I would recommend? Basically condos that are farther from town. I generally say houses appreciate faster than condos and central Austin outperforms the suburbs. So getting a condo in a condo complex outside of central Austin is kind of like getting the worst of both worlds.

So if you are thinking of getting a place what's my advice? First of all, if you are looking for a good deal, ignore list price. And this goes both ways. If a property is overpriced you are not getting a good deal just because you get it for 10% or 20% off. At the same time it might make sense to get a property for close to list price if its already priced well.

Second a lot of people have been asking when the market is going to bottom out. Not only do I not know but generally no one knows until way after the fact. We are definitely going through a low point now. So even if you are not planning on buying this week or next, now is probably the time to start looking and familiarizing yourself with the market.

As always if you have any questions about the market or a particular property, feel free to contact us. Also if you want to look at what is currently on the market, feel free to use our map-based search of the Austin MLS.

Posted by escapeso at 10:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Click To Enlarge Foreclosure Map

So anyone that follows my blog knows I like graphics. This one is pretty interesting. To start off with the top image shows where the highest percent of subprime loans were give out and what percentage of those loans are now in foreclosure. First the map is color coded with darker colors indicating the areas where subprime loans accounted for a high percentage of all mortgages given out. Second height shows the percent of subprime mortgages that are now in foreclosure.

So for instance Dallas, Texas is dark because a high percent of the loans give out where subprime loans. But the height is low because few of these loans (6.1%) went into foreclosure. On the other hand in Sacramento, California a high percent (17.2) of the subprime loans ended up in foreclosure.

The two smaller maps below help explain some of the difference. The first map shows the construction boom from 2004-2007. Basically areas that experienced a lot of overbuilding also saw a lot of out of state investors. And as we have been seeing in the subprime mess areas with lots of investors have seen a lot of foreclosures. The other piece of the picture is job loss. Areas with high rates of job loss see a high level of foreclosure. This is why although areas like Minneapolis-St Paul didn't see a lot of subprime mortgages we still see a high rate of foreclosures (17.1) with the subprime mortgage that were given out.

Posted by escapeso at 11:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The stats are out for the Austin real estate market. First let's look at the overall numbers. Above is the summary. Below is the breakout for the last few years.

First, sales are down 20% from last year going from 2772 to 2211. Also inventory is up 19% going from 9159 in June 2007 to 10866 in June 2008. That all sounds pretty bleak. So how the heck did we get listed in yahoo's list of top 10 cities to buy a home http://promo.realestate.yahoo.com/best-cities-to-buy-a-home.html. And not only that, we were listed at number 3. To be honest I was a little surprised myself. We are still in a buyers market after all.

There are a few reasons why Austin is considered one of the top real estate markets. First of all, while our numbers are down compared to last year, 2007 was an extremely hot year for us. Kind of like taking an iron out of the fire. A few minutes later it's not as hot as it was but it's not freezing. This can be seen by looking at our months of inventory on the market (MIV). Last year at this time we were at 3.304 which is extremely low and is a sign of a very hot market. Currently we are at 4.915. 6 is usually considered the average. So basically we are doing worse that last year but overall we are not doing that bad.

The second reason we were listed is the rest of the country is doing bad. Really really bad. Let's take a snapshot of the months of inventory of a few cities in the month of June. This cross section was based on which cities I could find recent reliable data on the web.

Los Angeles 9.34
Phoenix 9.37 (down from 18.18 last year)
Miama 39.4 (ouch)
Tampa Bay 13.89
Portland 9.5
Houston 6.7
Austin 4.9

Incidentally Houston and Portland were numbers 6 and 7 in Yahoo's list.

So the Austin market is a hot market then right? Not really. I would still say Austin is a buyers market. We are seeing more negotiable sellers. We have a decent amount of inventory for buyers to pick from. And the general feeling is that buyers are more in control right now. Also our months of inventory is 4.9 and an average market is considered 6, but the months of inventory is typically lower in the summer. So even though we are at 4.9 I would not say we are in a sellers market. (Yes the fact we are in the middle of summer and Miami is at 39.4 months of inventory makes it even worse for them)

Ok so what is going to happen over the next few months? As always I can't predict the future. That said if I had to bet I think the next few months are going to be tough. Why? Basically mortgage rates are going up.

There are a few positives coming into play but I don't expect to see them have an effect on the market for a few months. First the government is rolling out some plans that should have a positive effect on the market. And its expected that at some point banks are going to ease up lending. But I don't expect to see either of those changes having an effect in the next 2 months unlike higher mortgage rates. In addition, historically the economy picks up after an election, but that is still 3 months away.

Before we talk about areas I want to talk about property types. Right now in the market I think multifamily properties are pretty appealing. Why? Basically the market for multifamily properties has weakened considerably. The number of sales compared to last year has fallen 53%. But at the same rental rates have remained strong. There are a few reasons why the multifamily market is so weak but one of the reasons is that lenders have tightened the rules on multifamily properties considerably.

The market that I am not as hot on is the condo market. In a nut shell, they built a lot of condos and they are not selling. In June 2008, there were 199 sales and 1883 condos on the market. In June 2007, we had 314 sales and only 1192 condos on the market. So both the condo and multifamily market are currently weak so what is the difference? The multifamily market seems to be weak because lenders have tightened the rules on multifamily properties. When lenders ease up on these restrictions the multifamily market should improve. On the other hand the condo market is weak because they built a lot of condos and they are not selling that quickly. Even when the market improves this should take awhile to work itself out.

So now let's look at areas finally. East Austin is still the weakest at 5.8 months of inventory. The suburbs are at 5.11 and Central Austin is the strongest market at 3.83.

Below is a breakout of the central Austin MLS areas. Here is a map of Austin with the Austin mls areas. I also have links to stats for the other Austin MLS areas here Areas 8W-9, BA-HD Areas HH-NW Areas OT-WW. And finally below are the stats on the central Austin MLS areas. 10N still looks to be one of the hottest markets.

Any final words of advice. Basically all this analysis of the market trends and different mls areas is just part of the equation. The other part is the actual property. The house, the street, what its near. Most of the foreclosures we see are by investors that look at stats from afar and then never visit the actual properties. The actual property is a very important part of the equation. And of course if you want someone experienced on your side to help you through the transaction feel free to contact us. Also if you are not in the market for a property but have any real estate questions feel free to send us an email as well.

Also if you want to see what properties are currently on the market you can use our search for homes in the Austin MLS

Posted by escapeso at 06:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

First the May Facts & Figures for the Austin real estate market, active listings are up 1756 from last year. Homes sold is down 544 from last year. Both these numbers indicate a trend for a buyers market. But then the average sales price is up as well as the median sales price, so what does that mean? I think this is a little misleading because lower priced houses are not selling which is pushing the median and average prices up.

So what is going on with the Austin real estate market? Certainly the market has been affected by the subprime issues and the national housing malaise that has affected the entire country. We are seeing sellers that are more negotiable and prices have come down. But that said, we are not seeing 30% price drops like what California is currently experiencing. This is likely because the Austin real estate market did not see the wild appreciation California experienced for the last several years before the subprime issues. Let's look over the past couple years.

One interesting thing to look at is the sold to list price. It was pretty steadily around 97% for 2006 and 2007 until September 2007. It then wavered a couple months, and now April and May have come back up to just under 97%. Now that said, you have to remember to not get caught up in what the asking price is because getting a place for 5% less than list price does not mean it is necessarily a good deal. This is a common misconception. Good deals are not a ratio of list to sale price. Good deals are those that sell for less than the current market price. A lot of people feel good when they get X amount off the sales price, but what if it was X amount overpriced to begin with? Actually, some of the highest appreciating properties and best deals we have personally bought were purchased at list price.

Next let's look at the months of inventory on the market. This is basically how many months it would take to sell off all the houses currently on the market. Generally anything over 6 is considered a buyers market. Anything below 6 is a buyers market. Last year at this time the Months of Inventory was 3.27 which basically indicates we were in a very hot sellers market. In May 2008 we are at 4.91. Although this is above what we say in 2007, 4.91 is not that bad. And it's certainly a different story than what other parts of the country are experiencing. (I think parts of Florida are hovering at around 20 Months of Inventory).

Overall I would still say we are in a buyers market. For sellers I would advise to make their house as spotless and presentable as possible. Buyers are not going to look past stains in the carpet and even general clutter is really hurting a houses chance of selling in the current market. For buyers, if you look over the market you can still find decent deals out there. But if you are looking for a decent deal , you need to be flexible in what you are looking for and be open to variety of different houses & areas. That way you have many opportunities and a higher probability of finding a deal.

Now let's look at the breakout of the submarkets. The suburbs months of inventory increased from last month, from 4.83 to 5.22. East Austin has also increased its MOI just slightly from 5.61 in April to 5.71 for May. And central has improved quite a bit with a drop from 4.01 to 3.46 of MOI.

And finally, below is the further breakdown of the different central Austin MLS areas. Here is a map of Austin showing the different Austin MLS areas.

As always, if you have any questions about a particular house or the market in general, or if you are looking for a home feel free to contact us. Also if you want to search what is currently on the market we have a search here for Austin homes.

Posted by escapeso at 01:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

The stats for April are out for the Austin Real Estate market. I have gotten a few questions about why for instance April stats are not released until May. Basically although a sale happens in April, it is not reported until later. So if you were to pull the stats out in the beginning of April they would be pretty far off.

There is some interesting stuff going on this month so let's get started. First off, the basics. The market is definitely still slower than it was in 2007. Don't let anyone tell you different. The number of active listings on the market is up 20% compared to last year (8354 to 10034). The number of solds is down 14% (2295 to 1981). The median price is up ($185,000 to $187,900) and average price is down ($249,912 to $242,160). I think the median price is only up because cheaper houses under 150k are not selling due to the subprime issues. Basically in today's market, I am seeing lower prices and better deals than I did last year.

While the market is slower than last year, at this time we are actually seeing some positive signs over the last few months. One indicator people look at is the Months of Inventory on the market. It is based on the current number of sales and looks at how long it would take to sell all the houses currently on the market. A lower months of inventory means the market is a strong market/seller's market. Below is a graph showing the months of inventory over the last few years. As we see the months of inventory has been falling for the last few months. And the difference between now and last year is the lowest it has been in several months. Keep in mind the market is currently a buyers market and is worse than last year. But it seems to be weathering the storm better than a lot of markets that are currently imploding.

Now let let's look at average prices. Because of seasonal flucations in prices we usually compare the average price to what they were last year. So in contrast to the "Months of Inventory" graphs, what we discover when we look at prices is that seasonally adjusted average prices are down 3 percent this month the biggest year to year decrease in several years.

So are sellers overreacting to negative talk about the national real estate market? Maybe. Should sellers go with higher prices. I would say no for 2 reasons. First the Austin real estate market is not strong, it just seems to be weathering the current real estate storm. Secondly if everyone on your block is selling their houses for 200k and you list for 220k, well you can make your own conclusions about the likelihood of selling your home. What does this mean for buyers? Basically prices are down and interest rates are still relatively low. So if you take some time and look over the market you can probably find some decent deals out there. This is what promoted Lisa and I to make an offer on an investment property this week.

Ok lets look at the submarkets of the Austin real estate market. The Lakeway/Lago Vista market is moving incredibly slowly, by far the worst part of the market. East Austin has improved quite a bit from its dreadful performance a few months ago but is still underperforming the general market. West Central Austin is still outperforming all the other submarkets in the Austin area. The central part of the city outperforming the rest of the market is actually reflective of what we have been seeing in other cities around the country.

Here is a further breakdown of the different central Austin MLS areas. Here is a map showing the boundaries of the different Austin MLS areas.

Also if you want to search what is currently on the market we have a search here for Austin homes. As always, if you have any questions about a particular house or the market in general, or if you are looking for a home feel free to contact us

Posted by escapeso at 03:22 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)