Home Prices On the Rise

Austin is appreciating...I received a call last week asking me about my take on why the Austin market is going down. Real Estate statistics and numbers can be difficult to because the information that you may be looking for is not always the data that is being reported. Because everyone likes to talk casually about what is happening in Real Estate these days, the wrong information can be promoted in conversation as the state of the market, when in fact your friend, family member or colleague may have heard the right number--about the wrong information or statistic. It is easy to make this mistake.

These numbers are a good example of how numbers get misconstrued (see chart below): Sales in Austin proper for the month of August were down. That's Sales Unit Volume. Sales for the month of August were also UP for the month of August--that's Sales Price (appreciation of the median price of homes sold). And this is a Year-Over-Year calculation for the month of August. Confused yet?

If you like to play with numbers, you probably enjoy playing with the stats, but if you are an Austin area home buyer, here is what is really important to know. Inventory is fairly balanced in terms of supply and demand. This means that neither the seller nor the buyer has a significant upper hand right now. Prices are generally up in many communities, but there are still deals to be had with a savvy Realtor, and the right opportunity/community. The number of buyers that are out there are not as high as last year at this time, but this could be due partially to the front end loading of the year for first time home buyers who bought before June 30th this year. This time of year is ideal for finding deals in certain situations.

With interest rates as low as they are now, buyers are still generally coming out ahead of this 5% appreciation. Low rates have a significant impact on cost savings--much more than most buyers are able to achieve through aggressive negotiations.


Here is how select Texas cities fared in August (data current as of Sept. 23, 2010):

	Sales	Change from Last Year	Median Price	Change from Last Year	Months' Inventory
Amarillo	247	no change	$130,300	up 4%	6.8
Austin	1,670	down 15%	$196,500	up 5%	7.1
Corpus Christi	317	no change	$148,500	up 8%	11.2
Dallas	3,393	down 19%	$166,900	up 5%	7.2
El Paso	437	down 10%	$137,300	up 6%	6.9
Fort Worth	674	down 14%	$119,000	up 1%	7.3
Harlingen	64	down 25%	$96,700	up 3%	26.2
Houston	4,619	down 16%	$157,500	down 1%	8
Killeen-Fort Hood	189	down 28%	$128,100	up 1%	7.8
Lubbock	251	down 13%	$111,700	down 3%	7.4
Odessa	86	up 34%	$150,000	up 32%	4.6
San Antonio	1,646	down 9%	$157,800	up 7%	8.3
Tyler	238	down 15%	$143,100	up 10%	13.4
Wichita Falls	130	down 5%	$96,000	down 12%	8.4
Texas	17,017	down 14%	$152,900	up 1.9%	7.9

[This chart was created by the Texas Real Estate Center, a state based research institution at Texas A&M University. The Center tracks and reports on all things about Texas Real Estate.]

Like most financial decision points, some times it is better to get in earlier, rather than waiting until things go up more and regret not having acted earlier.

Tweet

Subscribe to receive free email updates: