Austin Real Estate News

AUSTIN, Texas – April 19, 2012 – According to the Multiple Listing Service (MLS) report released today by the Austin Board of REALTORS®, 1,852 single-family homes were sold in the Austin area in March 2012, which is 15 percent more than March 2011. During the same time period, the median price for Austin-area homes was $200,000, or eight percent more than the same month of the prior year.

Leonard Guerrero, Chairman of the Austin Board of REALTORS®, commented, “This marks the tenth month in a row Austin has seen year-over-year increases in sales volume. In addition, another healthy increase in the median price indicates competition is increasing among buyers as the inventory of homes continues to shrink.”

In March 2012, the Austin market had 4.4 months of inventory, 1.8 months less than March 2011. In addition, the market featured four percent fewer new listings, 21 percent fewer active listings and 16 percent more pending sales in March 2012 compared to the prior year. On average, homes spent 84 days on the market in March 2012, or 12 days less than March 2011.

Austin ranks high among the 50 best places to live in America as named by Businessweek and Bloomberg.

The magazine released its first list of the 50 Best Places to Live on Thursday, with Raleigh, N.C., named as the best place to live.

Austin ranks No. 12 on the list.

Here’s what Businessweek had to say about the Capitol City:

Hooray! The kids are finally out on their own and out of your hair. Now what?

The prospect of redecorating a home can prove daunting for empty nesters. Families tend to expand to fill their house, so the sudden reduction in people and possessions within the family home is often jarring. How should these newly emptied rooms be repurposed?

The first step to any redecorating project — particularly when the number of people living in the home has changed — is assessing how the house is used. Most families make use of every bedroom, so common areas are forced to play multiple roles. Mom's home office might be a desk tucked into a corner of the dining room, and Dad's TV might be perfect for game day but spends the rest of the time looming over guests in the living room. With one or more bedrooms freed up, you now have the luxury of assigning some of these functions to a dedicated space. This will allow you to improve both spaces with each change; for example, Mom will have a dedicated home office and the dining room will be a more functional space for entertaining.

Establish a functional home office.A growing number of Americans work from a home office, and many people do at least some work from home. Whether this is composed of true business dealings, household tasks like sorting through incoming mail and managing finances, or even crafts or other hobbies, any home office requires open work surfaces, generous storage spaces, comfortable seating and ample lighting.

Office spaces carved out of a shared living space rarely address these requirements sufficiently, and the clutter that comes along with them brings a sense of chaos and stress.

Repurposing an open bedroom as a dedicated office will allow you to contain your business mess in one space, making it easier to enjoy the rest of your home as a retreat from work.

Consider adding shelving to the closet to create out-of-sight storage space for files. Get the look of pricey built-in bookcases for less by running a row of inexpensive, configurable bookshelves side-by-side along one wall. The cost of storage accessories can add up quickly, so hunt for containers on sale or look for boxes and canisters that can be repurposed as storage. Keep these containers from being perceived as clutter by staying within the same family of colors, perhaps even spray painting them all white for a clean, tailored look.

Create a dedicated TV room.Today's super-sized flat screen televisions and home theater components might provide a theater-class experience, but often do so at the cost of living room aesthetics. Consider converting a bedroom into a dedicated media room and reclaim your living room for socializing that doesn't revolve around the TV.

Because most bedrooms are rectangular, it will be easy to position seating to face the screen and configure your sound system to deliver convincing surround sound. Add blackout curtains to windows to control incoming sunlight and provide a more authentic theater experience. You can find a set of curtains designed for use in media rooms online for around $60, or you can make your own by sewing fabric in the pattern of your choice to a blackout liner and hanging with ring clips or snap-in grommets. After moving your large television to its own space, you can rethink the furniture layout in your main living space. Arrange seating to allow for conversation, create a reading nook in a corner and bring in some fun new artwork. You can even reintroduce a smaller TV into the living room — trust me, they still make them in compact dimensions — that serves its purpose without dominating the space.

Finally, a real guest room.Families with a full house are often forced to improvise when guests visit, asking them to stay in a kid's room or even a hotel room. Your guests will no longer have to share a room with Betsy Wetsy or Godzilla. An empty nest has the space to host your guests in comfort and style.

Remember three words when creating a guest bedroom: accommodate, pamper and thrill. Accommodate the needs of house guests by providing them with space to stash their luggage, a closet with room for hanging garments (don't forget to provide nice wood clothes hangers), and open outlets and extension cords for charging cellphones and other electronics.

Pamper them with crisp, clean, comfortable bedding, a few extra pillows in the closet, luxurious white towels and perhaps even a bathrobe.

A guest bedroom isn't going to be used every day, and your guests will only be staying with you for a short while — hopefully. Take the opportunity to experiment with the room, and thrill your guests with style that's a little more adventurous than what you might use in your own bedroom. Step out of your comfort zone with color, window treatments and light fixtures. Introduce funky vintage furniture and artwork. Your guests will love having a fun space all their own.

Home staging expert and Austinite Roger Hazard of A&E's ‘Sell This House' offers design tips in the monthly column Design Hazards

Austin is one of 100 finalists in RelocateAmerica's 14th annual best places to live contest.

The Texas capital city was one of three finishers in the Central Texas region. Round Rock and Cedar Park were also listed. The website is taking votes until Aug. 2 to decide the top 10 winners.

The company chose the finalists from nominations and other parameters considered important when relocating. This year, cities best positioned for economic recovery were considered high priority, as well as overall economic stability. This includes factors such as employment, education, community leadership and overall quality of life.

In March, Austin was named the second best job market in the U.S. Also in February, Business Review USA called Austin one of the eight best places to live and work.

Last year, Austin came in third on the RelocateAmerica.com list.

For the first time since the bubble burst, the average price per square foot of a downtown Austin condo has increased four months in a row. Last month, downtown Austin closed 62 condos* with 29 more pending!

Highlights

In May, we counted 41 closings of new-construction condos from the Four Seasons Residences, W Hotel, Austonian, Spring Condos, and Barton Place.  The W takes the cake with 15 closings in May.

On the other hand, the number of resales comes in at 21 units closed – a strong showing – averaging a price of $334 per square foot. We also count 29 resales pending as of May 31st!  So, we can expect next month’s closing count to be similarly strong.

*Updates to the count

This month we added two buildings to the resale and new-construction counts: Bridges On The Park and Barton Place, respectively.  This yields no difference in the resale count for May, and a 12 unit increase in the new-construction count.  You can discount these additions if you please, and it is still an incredibly strong month.

I decided to add them as they are market comps based on price, building methodology, lifestyle, and [subjectively] the frequency which my clients ask me about them.  So, while technically not in MLS Area DT, they are are geographically close enough, and by all other measures operate within the same market space.

Check out these stats!

In the graph above you can see our trend line hovering around a monthly average of $300 per square foot [for resales only], with a gentle rise due to strong sales data within the past four months. Stability is the story.

Year-to-year: May 2010 compared to May 2011
sold price per foot: up, from $290 to $334
total resale volume: up, from $6,830,200 to $7,903,400
# of sales (resales): down, from 25 to 21

Month-to-month: April 2011 compared to May 2011
sold price per foot: up, from $333 to $334
total sales: down, from $10,157,150 to $7,903,400
# of sales: up, from 20 to 21

May Downtown Austin Condo Statistics
# of new construction transactions = 41 (including 12 at Barton Place)
# of resale transactions = 21
Total resale square feet sold = 22,821
avg resale price per foot = $334
# of resale bedrooms = 31
avg resale price per bedroom = $245,745
avg sales price to list price (SP/LP) = 96%
avg days on market (DOM) = 89 days
total resale volume =  $7,903,400