Austin Housing Market Back on Track??

Although the Austin real estate market has faired well compared to the rest of the country, there is no denying that we took a hit as well.  We may be seeing the light at the end of the tunnel, but we are not quite out of the tunnel yet.  Last month, the July real estate statistics were released for Austin home sales and showed that we are back to 2008 sales levels and way up over sales from the beginning of the year.


A WebNewsWire article on September 24th explains: 

"REAL ESTATE STATISTICS JUST RELEASED FOR JULY 2009 SHOW A REBOUND IN AUSTIN HOME SALES, WITH 2,069 HOMES SOLD. THIS IS COMPARABLE TO THE 2,068 HOMES SOLD IN JULY OF LAST YEAR, MARKING A 61 PERCENT IMPROVEMENT OVER JANUARY 2009 AND ONLY A TWO PERCENT REDUCTION IN OVERALL HOME PRICES FROM LAST YEAR. EXPERTS IN THE AUSTIN REAL ESTATE MARKET BELIEVE THIS INDICATES A RECOVERY IN THE HOUSING INDUSTRY, LONG BELEAGUERED BY THE SAME CONCERNS THAT HAVE PLAGUED THE NATIONAL REAL ESTATE SCENE." -Submitted by AustinREBroker on September 24, 2009

A September 18th Press Release from the Austin Board of Realtors (ABOR) shows that August home sales in Austin were down again.  

In August 2009, 1,793 homes were sold, a 10 percent decrease from 1,994 homes sold in August 2008. The median home price for Austin in August 2009 was $189,000, a four percent decrease from the same month the prior year.

“It’s fairly normal for our market to slow down in autumn. Although we’ve been encouraged by stable home prices and volume in recent months, we are clearly not out of the woods completely,” said Jay Gohil, chairman of the Austin Board of REALTORS®. “Looking ahead, it will be interesting to see what impact the November 30 deadline for the first-time homebuyer tax credit has on demand this fall.”

Austin Board of REALTORS® releases August 2009 real estate statistics

I think its fair to say that the hemorrhaging in the market, at least in Austin, has stopped but the recovery will not be without its hiccups.   As Mr. Gohil mentioned the $8,000 first-time homebuyer tax credit may have an impact on demand in the housing market over the next two months.  Its a buyer's market and the government is insentivizing people to purchase a home now. I cannot think of a better time than now to buy an Austin area home.