Home prices in the Austin market have begun to decline.  The table below shows inventory levels for September in different price markets, which have worsened since last month. Much of this is due to the tightening of available money to a purchase a home. A larger down payment and higher credit rating is now needed in order to buy a home. This will reduce the number of available Buyers in the marketplace which will place additional pressure on the current housing inventory. This month, only home sales below $200K are still strong. Homes priced above that are now in a Buyers Market as all inventory are close to 6 months or higher.  

Inventory Levels Based on Home Price in the Austin Area for July 2008

Home  Prices	Sales	Listings	Sept.Inventory	Aug.Inventory
100K-200K	913	3254	4.1 months	3.6 months
200K-300K	513	2367	5.9 months	4.6 months
300K-500K	321	2313	9.3 months	7.2 months
500K-1M	104	1455	17.1 months	14.0 months

The other area of our market that varies is in location. Although the overall Austin home price is the same as it was one year ago, many parts of Austin have begun to experience a decline in home prices. Most of the city have dropped in value from 2%-4% as compared to Sept. of 2007. Increases in prices in a few select areas due to changes in the home mix towards more expensive homes rather than the true increase in basic value of property is the reason Austin's overall home prices have stayed constant since last year.