Vikki Goodwin’s Austin Real Estate Weblog

I read an interesting article today about cities that have strong real estate markets despite the overall sluggish housing markets in many parts of the country.  The Money Magazine article listed various cities that are exceptions to the housing slow down and gave several reasons, such as a large influx of retirees, city ordinances that slowed down new construction, and continued job growth, among other reasons.

I often turn to the sales data to get a better feel for where we really are.  To summarize, the numbers show that the real estate market is slowing down a bit in Austin, but amazingly, prices are going up.  Here are some numbers I just pulled from the MLS.

In Nov., 2007, 527 houses sold in Austin.  In Nov., 2006, 835 houses sold in Austin.
In Nov., 2007, 117 houses sold in Round Rock.  In Nov., 2006, 228 houses sold in Round Rock.
In Nov., 2007, 92 houses sold in Cedar Park.  In Nov., 2006, 106 houses sold in Cedar Park.
And the trend continues the same way in the other suburban communities.

Now, for the prices:
In Nov., 2007, the average sales price was $323,000 and the median sales price was $230,000 in the city of Austin.
In Nov. 2006, the average sales price was $285,000 and the median sales price was $214,000 in the city of Austin.
The average time on the market both years was 50 days.  The increased sales prices show that we still have a strong real estate market – but buyers can be more selective.  If you need professional real estate services, call me, Vikki Goodwin, Homes ATX, 512-426-9090, or visit my website.