market price

Austin/Central Texas market performance — what’s selling?

There are many ways to approach market analysis. Many real estate practicioners still do what their clients usually expect and base a pricing recommendation on recent “comps” in the neighborhood. That will certainly provide one indication of market value, but without a more thorough understanding of the market environment, I suggest that that approach can easily mislead, and result in a listing that is overpriced, or underpriced or, maybe, priced just right. Continue reading →

More on home values in Austin area

In my last post (see Updated Austin Market Dashboard, 04/29/11) I focused largely on volatility in unit sales, but emphasized that the Austin/Central Texas real estate market has largely maintained a healthy balance between supply (i.e., listing inventory) and demand (i.e., home sales), which allowed our home values to remain much stronger than many areas … Continue reading →

Case-Shiller Update — Keep an eye on Austin

Despite ups and downs over the past year, we saw the lowest average home sale price in seven months in January 2011. On the other hand, the average price in January 2011 was up 5.2% compared to one year earlier — much stronger than even the strongest of the Case-Shiller cities. Continue reading →

Austin Market Dashboard Update

The February market snapshot shows mixed results, but important point of emphasis regarding the Austin/Central Texas residential real estate market remains remarkable strength in property values. Continue reading →

Austin and other cities – sales and median price growth

Austin was one of only two cities to experience positive growth in both prices and unit sales over this 12-month period. Austin’s 5% increase in median price was below the 7.8% average rate of increase since 1990, but still a strong performance. Couple that with growth in unit sales of more than 3x the national average, and this is really impressive. Continue reading →

Foreclosure Impact in Austin

Foreclosure activity in Austin is definitely higher than it was pre-recession, and there is no doubt that the effects of the recession and housing downturn have flattened home values here over the past few years — prices are lower today than they would have been if the recession had not happened. All in all, though, Austin and Central Texas continue to contrast dramatically with the cities and states that so thoroughly dominate news about the housing sector.

Continue reading →

Updated Market Dashboard — “unpredictable”

The theme in my Austin Market Dashboard this month is that the Austin/Central Texas real estate market remains unpredictable — although virtually all economic indicators and forecasts call for improvement in our local economy generally, and our real estate market specifically. Continue reading →

Pricing to sell — the real world

Price your house right the first time. Why spend more time on the market just to sell for less? Continue reading →

Insulting offer? Think again

When selling your home, accept the fact that some buyers just won’t make a strong first offer, but will negotiate reasonably. Others won’t budge. If you don’t respond, you’ll never know which is which. Continue reading →

What can you get for your money in Austin?

What a prospective home buyer wants and and is willing to pay for inevitably lead to decisions about location (or strong location preferences require realistic expectations about what is available within a given budget). So what can you get for your money in Austin real estate? Continue reading →