Austin City Blog

Austin Real Estate Market

May 12, 2010 // 29 Comments »

Austin real estate, along with the rest of the Lone Star State, continues to face mixed signals during the first few months of 2010. According to a March 19, 2010 article in the Austin Business Journal, “Austin area foreclosure postings increased 23 percent this month compared with March last year, exceeding 1,400 for the fourth time, Foreclosure Listing Service Inc. reported today. A total 1,451 notices were sent out this month, which was the fourth time in the past 10 months its exceeded 1,400. The record high was set in October last year when 1,481 foreclosure notices were filed.” The piece continued to say that “The Austin total has increase[d] 118 percent since March 2008 and 11 percent from February this year. Hays County was the only Central Texas region where foreclosure notices dropped from February to March, falling 19 percent.”

Austin home sales rallied in February, according to a March 18, 2010 article in the Austin American-Statesmen. The article noted that “Austin-area existing home sales rose 3.5 percent in February from a year earlier, the sixth year-over-year monthly increase in a row. The Austin Board of Realtors said Thursday that 1,145 single-family homes were sold last month. The median price was $189,500, unchanged from a year earlier.” The piece continued to state that “There were 1,738 sales in the pipeline to close in March, 24 percent more than a year earlier. In Central Texas and across the country, home sales have received a boost from a federal tax credit that include[s] $8,000 for first-time homebuyers and $6,500 for others, with certain income limits.”

This same positive trend was noted by a March 18, 2010 article in the Austin Business Journal, which stated that “Home sales increased and properties spent less time on the market last month, according to multiple listing service data from the Austin Board of Realtors. A total 1,145 Austin area homes sold in February, up 4 percent from the same month in 2009.” The Chairman of the Austin Board of Realtors, John Horton, said that “It appears we’re beginning to see an impact from this steady improvement, particularly in increases in pending sales and new listings…”

Posted in Real Estate