Is the Austin Real Estate Market Getting Better?

Austin Real Estate tumbled and touched the bottom-most point like any other real estate market of the United States. Property price was going down, and in the last two years this continuous drop in price caused many Austin realtors to panic. Many Austin homes were up for sale, but no buyers were looking at it, and home owners lost their hope. Hence, "Austin Homes for sale" placard was gathering dust, as no one cared about it anymore.

Then came February, and it brought the good news. Congress approved American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 sanctioned $8,000 tax credit to the first-time home buyers. Thanks to this legislation, the buying sentiment returned to the market.

Since then, the Austin real estate market has recovered a great deal. And the news that Austin will be among two cities to recover earliest from recession is adding up to the positive market sentiment in Austin.

Real estate studies

According to a new nation forecast by IHS Global Insight, Austin and its Texan cousin San Antonio will be the two cities that will be quickest in beating the economic recession.

According to the study conducted by the Brookings Institute, Austin is among the Top 20 best performing metropolitan area in the second quarter of 2009, as said the report published in Austin Business Journal.

In the second quarter, Austin has also been found leading the pack on many of the 9 metrics tracked by MetroMonitor for100 U.S. cities. These metrics included things like metropolitan products, and percentage change in housing price, etc.

There are many reports that coming that shares the same sentiment, which compelled me that I should find some data to match the prediction. Hence, I am going to provide here some hard data as evidence to corroborate with these and several other studies.

Austin Real Estate marketing data

• The Austin home sale in July 2009 has torched the mark set in July 2008, as reported by Austin Board of REALTORS. In July '09, 2,069 homes were sold, where as in July '08, 2,068 homes were sold. The median home price was also just 2% at $191,500 below the median home price in the same month last year. This data might not have looked positive in the bullish market, but given the state of Austin real estate in this year, this can be seen as a good recuperation.
• $508,810,549 was the total value of single-family properties sold in July 2009.
• In August 09, total house sold: 1706; average listing: $255,966; median listing: $195,750; average sold: $246,372; median sold: $190,000.
• In September 09, total house sold: 1639, 0.61% rise since September 08 (1629); average listing: $257,361, 0.69% rise since September 08 ($255,585); median listing: $194,900, 2.63% rise since September 08 ($189,900); average sold: $246,185, 0.04% rise since September 08 ($246,079); median sold: $188,500, 1.89% raise since September 08 ($185,000).
• Most of the U.S. cities are still struggling, but 17% of total homes that had "Austin Home for Sale" placard have found the buyers. To put it plainly, Austin has seen a 17% decline in home inventory, and witnessed increase in sale.
• The Brookings Institute's study found out that the Austin house price is up by 2.4% over the past year while the US house price is down by 6.3% over the same period.

Conclusion

As it is evident from the data given above that the predictions and forecasting made by national as well as Austin realtors are proving to be true. The Austin real estate market is heating up as the market sentiment is back into the buying mode. The confidence in the home owners are back, and now, no "Austin Home for Sale" placard is gathering dust.