Austin Real Estate Statistics: April 2010

Eric Bramlett
May 20, 2010

All the numbers for April 2010 are looking rosy as rosy can be.  While it makes sense that we would start seeing increased activity in the market, since Austin officially moved out of the recession in August 2009, these numbers are out of this world!  But wait…we have the Home Buyer Tax Credit & its impending expiration to thank for the lion’s share of it.

Of considerable notice is that the # of homes sold is up almost 31% over April 2009.  Median sales price increased negligibly, as did average sales price.  Average sales price slight increase is actually very positive news, as it indicates that the luxury market is stabilizing.  (Bear in mind that the home buyer credit has little to no affect on the luxury market.)

The most striking statistic isn’t shown on the chart – pending sales are up 47% over 2009.  In order to qualify for the tax credit, a buyer must have been contracted by April 30, 2010, and must close by June 30, 2010.  I predict that we will see similar sales increases for the months of May & June.  After that?  It’s anybody’s guess.  But, I love to guess, so here it goes:

I think we will see small, but noticeable declines in total # of homes purchased for July/August/September 2010 over 2009.  I think the numbers will be flat from October through December, and we’ll see an overall increase in # of homes sold for 2010 over 2009.  I predict that we will see marginal increases in median & average sales price.

So…what are your thoughts?

Category

9 Responses

Join the
Conversation
DaniellaT@condo
May 21, 2010

I fear you are right about the decline in sales, but I think the president may extend another tax credit to try to get the market going again. Kinda like a dead car battery! I think that the sales for condo s may be going to be down a lot though.

Dee Austin Concert Diva
May 22, 2010

What are my thoughts?

If our regulation happy gov. doesn’t step back and let the markets breathe (as evidenced by latest ‘reform’ bill passed May 20, 2010), we’re all in trouble.

Austin is a perfect example of how well our economy can prosper if given the chance.

My concern is that with this new so called ‘reform’ bill.. i.e. more government bureaucracy controlling our credit, less people will qualify for a home mortgage.

Thank God we live in Austin, is all I have to say.. where unlike most of the rest of our fine nation, we at least have a chance to prosper.

Maui Luxury Realtor
May 24, 2010

Eric, what percentage of your market is made up of REO’s and short sales? What data realtytrac has posted for austin in april (not that it will be reflected immediately, but that could be a sign of what’s on the pipeline)? All in all, good signs so far, let’s see how it turns out for the rest of the year…

Lake Travis Homes
May 24, 2010

@Maui – we are lucky that we don’t have much of a foreclosure problem compared to many other cities. We haven’t lost many jobs and that is one thing that pushes people into foreclosure. It isn’t that we don’t have foreclosures, we just don’t substantial amount.

Eric Bramlett
May 24, 2010

Last time I checked (about 6 months ago,) foreclosures & short sales made up 6% of the listings on our MLS.

Danna
May 30, 2010

We have many people here in upstate NY forclosing and it’s sad to see them have to leave the homes that they have been putting their time and effort into. I wish that there were something that would get done about this..

Vancouver WA Homes
June 30, 2010

Austin does appear to be doing very well with only about 6% of the market made up of short sales and foreclosures. Our little corner of Washington State is heavily influenced by nearby Portland and thus, our number is 47% and we have our work cut out for us! John

Watch Online Video
August 26, 2010

Eric, what percentage of your market is made up of REO’s and short sales? What data realtytrac has posted for austin in april (not that it will be reflected immediately, but that could be a sign of what’s on the pipeline)? All in all, good signs so far, let’s see how it turns out for the rest of the year…

Terence Richardson
October 22, 2010

With a few months gone by since the tax credit expired, in our market home sales have dropped sharply. Everybody who normally would buy in July, August and September raced to buy in March, April, May in order to get the tax credit. Since the beginning of the school year, the market’s slowed down considerably. Gotta be proactive with earning people’s business.

Leave a comment

Name *

Email address *

Website

Your comment *