Austin-area real estate market slows from summer buying months
Austin Board of REALTORS® releases August 2009 real estate statistics
September 18, 2009 - According to the August 2009 Multiple Listing Service report by the Austin Board of REALTORS®, the Austin-area real estate market has slowed slightly during the first month of fall.
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.”
On November 30, the tax credit for first-time homebuyers of up to $8,000 expires. Despite speculation to the contrary, no definitive steps have been taken to extend it. To qualify, first-time homebuyers must close their real estate transaction by that date, a process that requires anywhere from 14 to 60 days or more. For more information, visit www.austinhomesearch.com.
August 2009 Statistics
- $437,228,429 was the dollar volume of single-family properties sold
- $189,000 was the median price, a four percent decrease from July 2008
- 1,793 was the number of homes sold, a 10 percent decrease from one year ago
CENTRAL TEXAS MARKET BOTTOMING OUT?
AUSTIN (Austin American-Statesman) – Central Texas’ new-home market might be bottoming out, according to Residential Strategies Inc. and its third-quarter starts and closings figures, released Thursday. Third quarter home starts were down 5.4 percent from the same quarter last year to 2,239 but up 17 percent from second quarter 2009. “This is a positive sign and perhaps a signal that the successive quarterly decline in activity may be coming to an end,” said Ted Wilson, a partner with Residential Stategies.
How are homes in my neighborhood selling? What is the home market doing?
A neighborhood Market Snapshot will help keep you up to date with the temperature of the Texas real estate market today! Despite what the headlines may say, the values and level of activity are very different when you talk about specific areas of interest. The city as a whole may be identified on the evening news in such a way that is not necessarily true for the areas you have chosen to get real estate information on!
You may notice that the homes in the Snapshot have some similarities to yours and some may not compare much at all? Just like the Dow Jones stock market snapshot as an example which is made up of a number of stocks from various sectors, the temperature of the market as a whole is displayed through a consolidation of the various companies. This is the same for the Snapshot we will provide to you. Trend data from a consolidation of surrounding homes formulates the report. It is interesting to know what homes of various styles, shapes and sizes are selling for and how long they take to sell compared to others?
If you are considering a move, BuyersHouseRealty would be happy to answer any questions you may have and put together a detailed Comparative Market Analysis otherwise referred to as a CMA. In order to do this we will need know some specifics about your home or the home you are interested in purchasing, i.e. square footage, age, style and overall condition. This will allow us to provide a value to your home in today’s market.
If any of your friends, relatives and co-workers would also like to receive a Market Snapshot, just forward this blog onto them and they can sign themselves up or pass on their information and I would be happy to set them up as well.
Americans Tame Their Wanderlust—Where Americans are migrating towards!
Census Bureau statistics show that fewer Americans are uprooting. And when they do move, they’re favoring D.C., Alaska and Texas. NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — Americans have tamed their wanderlust during this recession, according to the latest data released by the U.S. Census Bureau. Only about 2.4% of Americans moved from state to state in 2008, down from 2.5% the previous year.
“The mobility rate is lower than it has been in years,” said Robert Lang, a demographer with Virginia Tech University. “There’s a recession and a housing bust. People can’t sell their homes in California and move to Las Vegas or sell their condo in Florida and move to North Carolina.
“People are hunkering down, trying to hold on to what they have,” added Andy Beveridge, a demographer and sociology professor at Queens College in New York. “It’s a depression, recession mentality.
” Plus, a good portion of the population has reached the age where the charm of a new place is more than offset by the fetters of life and responsibilities. “A large share of the population is at the age where they’re settled,” Lang said. “The baby boomers have good jobs and most are not ready to retire.
Shunning the lands of sun and surf
Perpetually booming Florida may actually have fewer people than in 2007.
During 2008, 2.8% of the Sunshine State’s population hadn’t lived there the year before, and the net domestic migration — the difference between Americans moving into a state and those moving out — was negative for the first time in recent history.
Nearly 10,000 more Americans fled the land of the Dolphins and the Devil Rays than moved in, according to the Census. That followed average gains of more than 200,000 a year from 2001 through 2006.
“It looks like the first time in recorded history that Florida lost population,” Beveridge said.
(That’s slight hyperbole: Florida’s population did drop in 1946, in the aftermath of World War II.)
California also saw a decline in the number of people coming to partake of its sand and sea. A mere 1.3% of California residents moved in from out of state in 2008. That’s off from 1.4% in 2007.
For years, Americans have been fleeing the Golden State. The population kept growing only because of foreign immigration and births. All through the 2000s there has been a net loss in domestic migration, with 800,000 more Americans leaving than moving in during the three years ended in 2007. As it became more difficult to sell homes, that out-flow eased. That, combined with the newcomers, meant the population fell by only 144,000 in 2008.
The housing bust, and the harm it did to employment, seems to have pushed more people to leave bubble markets like California and Florida than have been drawn in by more affordable home prices.
“The Florida economy is based on growth and home construction,” said Lang. With building projects dying on the vine, unemployment soared to 7.6% for the state in 2008. It’s now up to 10.7%.
The same job problems plague many California cities, especially Central Valley towns like Stockton, Fresno and Merced. Construction-related job losses helped send state unemployment to 8.7% by December 2008 from 5.9% a year earlier. Today, some cities report breathtakingly high unemployment rates: 30.2% in El Centro; 17.6% in Merced; and 17.2% in Yuba City.
So, where are they moving?
So, if people aren’t heading for the good life in California and Florida, where are they going?
D.C., Alaska and Wyoming. (Seriously.)
The nation’s capital saw 7.6% of its residents arrive in 2008; Alaska attracted 6% more people to the Last Frontier (up a full percent from 2007); and 5.2% more people wanted to be Wyoming cowboys.
To be fair, however, small populations in these places convert modest in-migration increases into large percentage gains. They’re each among the smallest states (or district) in the Union. That’s just the opposite of California and Florida where each percentage point represents hundreds of thousands of people.
Don’t mess with Texas
In terms of net migration — those moving in minus those leaving — Texas was the star performer in 2008, with the population growing by 140,000.
That meshes with what moving company Allied Van Lines experienced. “We moved more people here than anywhere in the U.S. in the last several years,” said David King, general manager of Berger Transfer and Storage in Houston, Texas, and Allied Van Lines’ largest booking and hauling agent.
The moving company recorded 5,891 inbound shipments and 3,988 outbound shipments in 2008, a net gain of 1,903. That was just slightly lower than last year’s net gain of 2,041.
That influx may be due to the state’s employment picture, which has remained rosier than most other places thanks to the energy industry and a welcoming business climate. Plus, home prices never cycled through a boom-bust period: They’ve remained affordable, which facilitates mobility.
In contrast, battered Michigan, with its housing and job woes, was the least-popular place to move to. The state experienced a net loss of 109,000 people, or 1.1%, in 2008, according to the Census. Allied said its outbound shipments totaled 2,388, more than double its inbound shipments of 1,181.
New York State lost even more people than Michigan — 126,000 people — but because it has a larger population to begin with, the percentage drop is just 0.7%, almost identical to New Jersey’s.
Moving down the block
The Census Bureau also reported that fewer residents were moving within their home states.
The percentage of people who lived in different homes within the same state dropped to 12.6% during 2008. It was 12.8% in 2007 and 13% in 2005, when housing markets were hopping.
The decline came despite a boost in the number of people forced to move. More than 860,000 delinquent mortgage borrowers lost homes to foreclosure in 2008, about three times as many as in 2005.
More Alaskans moved within the state during 2008 than any other place; 16.3% of them occupied a different house. That increased from 14.6% in 2007.
Oklahoma (15.8%), Nevada (15.7%) and Texas (15.2%) residents also moved around a lot.
New Jersey residents, if they weren’t leaving the state altogether, stayed put: 8.2% of them moved within the state during 2008.
There must be something about the Northeast: Only 9.1% of New Yorkers moved within the state, while Rhode Islanders and New Hampshire residents moved at a rate of 9.2%.
TEXAS EXISTING HOME SALES, PRICES DROP
TEXAS (Real Estate Center, NAR) – A total of 19,884 existing single-family homes were sold in Texas last month, a 12 percent decrease from August 2008, according to MLS data compiled by the Real Estate Center at Texas A&M University.
The median price dropped 1 percent to $150,400 during the same period, and the state finished the month with a 7.5-month inventory of existing homes.
Here is how select Texas cities fared in August (data current as of Sept. 24, 2009):
change from change from Months’
Sales last year Median$$ last year Inventory
Austin 1,996 down 10% $187,000 down 4% 6.7
Dallas 4,183 down 15% $161,500 up 1% 6.5
Fort Worth 756 down 17% $116,300 down 4% 6.8
Houston 5,555 down 11% $159,700 up 1% 6.8
Killeen 262 up 19% $127,100 up 1% 9.8
Laredo 72 down 19% $116,400 down 10% 9.4
Lufkin 48 down 20% $95,000 down 17% na
Odessa 92 down 39% $118,700 down 13% 7.9
San Antonio 1,808 up 1% $146,500 down 2% 8.3
Texarkana 85 down 11% $111,000 up 25% 8.7
Additional home sales data for these and other major Texas cities are available on the Center’s website.
The National Association of Realtors reports that, nationally, sales of existing single-family homes fell 2.8 percent last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.48 million from 4.61 million in July. However, that was 2.5 percent higher than the 4.37 million-unit pace reported a year ago.
Meanwhile, the median existing home price was $177,500 in August, down 12.1 percent from August 2008.
Basics on the $8k tax credit – Some things you need to know
Time is Running out, ACT NOW! Call 512.663.9519, it’s time to get off the fence to take advantage of this credit from the Government.
- The $8,000 first-time buyer tax credit program ends in just 2 short months. That means buyers need to be CLOSED on their homes by NOVEMBER 30th in order to receive the tax break.
- You are considered a first-time buyer if neither you nor your spouse has owned a principle residence in the U.S. within the last three years.
- You can claim the credit when you file your 2009 tax return or, if you’d rather not wait, you can file an amended 2008 return and receive the money upon purchasing your home. And you can apply the credit to your down payment when purchasing an FHA insured home.
- You can receive the full credit even if you won’t owe any taxes for 2009.
TEXAS CITIES’ HOUSING FORECAST STABLE
CARY, N.C. (Local Market Monitor) – Five large Texas cities and ten smaller ones are among the nation’s top markets when it comes to expected home price performance, according to Local Market Monitor’s latest Home Price Forecast.
Among the largest markets — those with populations exceeding 600,000 — Dallas-Plano-Irving, Fort Worth–Arlington, Houston–Sugar Land–Baytown, San Antonio and Wichita Falls filled five spaces on the ten-slot list of cities with the best expected performance in home price over the next year.
The same survey of the smallest U.S. markets revealed ten Texas cities were tops, tied with other cities across the country. These were Abilene, Amarillo, Brownsville-Harlingen, College Station–Bryan, Corpus Christi, Killeen–Temple–Fort Hood, Laredo, Lubbock, Texarkana and Waco.
The study predicts local market behavior over the upcoming 12 months in over 300 markets, identifying those that are stable and have opportunity for growth.
‘ECO’ HOTEL ANNOUNCED FOR DOWNTOWN AUSTIN
AUSTIN (Austin American-Statesman) – Starwood Capital Group has announced its proposal for the development of a luxury eco-friendly hotel in downtown, the first major hotel project announced in the area in nearly two years.
The 17-story concept hotel, called 1 Hotel, could be the debut of the first luxury eco-friendly global hotel brand.
Woodbine Development Corp. has been hired to build the 250- to 275-room hotel at the southwest corner of West Fifth St. and Colorado St. in the warehouse district, where a two-story brick building currently stands.
The project must move through several city commissions, and the city council would have the final say. The project’s attorney has filed a request for a zoning change that would allow the hotel more square footage, and that process is expected to be completed before the end of the year.
How do real estate commissions work? What buyers should know…
There’s no question a good real estate agent can be a valuable resource when it comes to buying or selling a home. But how much is that help going to cost?
First of all, if you’re the one buying the home, it isn’t going to cost you anything. The agent’s commission comes out of the selling price. That means it’s deducted from the amount the seller receives, not added onto the amount the buyer pays. Of course, it can be argued that as a buyer you are indirectly paying the commission by virtue of the fact that it’s included in the price. But following that logic, all homes for sale by owner should cost less than those being sold through an agent, and that certainly isn’t always the case.
Second, if you’re the seller, you don’t have to pay an agent anything up-front to market your home. A real estate agent generally doesn’t receive any commission until closing, at which time they will receive the amount stipulated in their contract — typically somewhere between five and eight percent. But chances are (unless you’re in a particularly hot market) your agent is going to have to work hard to earn that commission by investing a lot of time and effort into marketing your home. And they’re going to have to give a cut of that commission to both their brokerage and the buyer’s agent (unless they represent both the buyer and the seller).
To help take the mystery out of real estate commissions, we provide the following answers to a few of your most common questions.
Q. What is the average commission on a home purchase? A. The average commission is about 5 percent, although 6 percent commissions are still common.
Q. Who pays the commission? A. The seller. It is paid out of funds received from the sale of the home.
Q. Does the commission go entirely to the seller’s real estate agent? A. No. The broker whose firm lists the house sets the commission. The listing broker then offers part of the commission — often 50 percent — to the broker whose firm represents the buyer. Both brokers then share their portion of commission with the agents who work with the seller and buyer. The agents’ share may be as little as 50 percent or as much as 100 percent, depending on their arrangement with the broker. If either brokerage is part of a franchise, it may also pay part of the commission as a franchise fee.
Q. Is it possible to negotiate the real estate commission? A. Yes. An agent may be willing to negotiate his or her commission in order to get your business. This is especially true if the agent is independent and doesn’t have large operating costs. In some cases, both agents might agree to cut their commissions in order to bring down the price of the home if the buyer’s offer doesn’t quite meet the asking price. Sometimes a buyer’s agent may offer concessions such as paid closing costs, a repair allowance or a rebate in order to help close a deal. Buyer rebates are legal in the State of Texas.
Q. Will I pay less if I buy a house without using a real estate agent? A. You might think, you’d be able to negotiate a reduced price. Since the listing broker won’t have to share the commission with another agent and broker, he or she may agree to a small reduction, but for the most part, it will be an adjustment in commissions that benefits the seller, that savings is typically not pass onto the BUYER! Ultimately if you purchase a home using the Listing Agent, all they will be able to provide is factual information about the property, and they can not offer advise or opinions, that might place either party at a disadvantage! If they were to provide advice and opinions to both the seller and buyer, they would be guilty of being a dual agent. Dual agency is illegal in the State of Texas.
Q. Is a real estate agent likely to push me to buy a more expensive home so he can make a higher commission? A. There isn’t a big incentive for an agent to push you to buy a more expensive home because of the way commissions are divided. Your agent may be entitled to 65 percent of his broker’s share of the commission — perhaps 3 percent of the sale price. Under that scenario, if you were to buy a home for $260,000, rather than $250,000, your agent would earn only an additional $195. However, there could be an incentive for the agent to steer you toward a house on which his broker has been offered a larger share of the commission. This practice is not prevalent, but it does occur.
Q. Are there other commissions that buyers don’t see? A. In some cases, a seller, listing agent or builder might offer the buyer’s agent a cash bonus or other incentive to help sell the house. The buyer’s agent should disclose these fees if you ask.
Texas Veteran Loans- Austin, Dallas, Houston & San Antonio
The State of Texas has a long history of honoring it’s veterans and that tradition continues today with the programs offered by the Texas Veterans Land Board. Through the TVLB, Texas veterans have access to the most extensive benefits available to veteran anywhere in the country.
TVLB Housing Assistance Program
The TVLB Veterans Housing Assistance Program provides below market interest rate financing up to $325,000, toward the purchase of a home to qualified/eligible Texas veterans. TVLB loans are limited to a loan amount of $325,000, however, higher sales prices may be accommodated through the use of a two-note loan (ask your lender). Texas Vet loans are originated in conjunction with Federal Housing Administration (FHA), Veterans Administration (VA), or conventional loans.
The Texas Veterans Land Board sets interest rates on a weekly basis. The rates are usually below current market interest rates and you may qualify for additional discounts. Please see the interest rate discounts page for more information on currently available discounts.
As Texas Vet loans may be FHA, VA or conventional loans, veterans do not have to have VA eligibility remaining to qualify for a TVLB loan. The term of the loan can be 15, 20, 25 or 30 years and are fixed rates only.
The Texas Veterans Land Board’s website at www.texasveterans.com contains the latest program information and a listing of lenders participating in the program.
Honoring Veterans & those who serve our Country
Throughout this website and others you will learn about the advantages of the TVLB program. Below market interest rates, controlled closing costs, flexible financing options all work together to create a very appealing loan program. There is one aspect of the program which sets Texas and the Housing Assistance program apart from all other loan programs in existence. If you are a reservist called to active duty after your loan is originated, the Land Board, upon proper verification of orders, will eliminate the interest portion of your payment while on active duty. The only required payment will be the principal portion of the payment and any escrow funds due (taxes, insurance, etc). The interest portion of the payment will result in savings of thousands of dollars for activated reservists at a time when it is need most. This interest is waived by the Land Board and never has to be repaid.
