Housing impact to the Austin market is beginning to appear. The table below shows inventory levels for November of Austin homes in different price ranges. Although our market is one of the strongest in the nation, we are beginning to feel the effects of the tightening credit regulations. A larger down payment and higher credit rating is now needed in order to buy a home. This has pushed us into a Buyer’s Market.
|
Inventory Levels Based on Home Price in the Austin Area for November 2008
|
|
Home Prices
|
Sales
|
Listings
|
Nov.Inventory
|
Oct.Inventory
|
|
100K-200K
|
486
|
3032
|
6.2 months
|
5.3 months
|
|
200K-300K
|
229
|
2132
|
9.3 months
|
7.3 months
|
|
300K-500K
|
127
|
1948
|
15.3 months
|
9.8 months
|
|
500K-1M
|
56
|
1209
|
21.6 months
|
18.0 months
|
Although the median price of homes is down 3% from one year ago, the average price per square foot is down 7%. Different areas of the city vary considerably from that number. Part of the reason is because as number of sales decrease then the variation in sales prices increases due to the smaller sample size. Some of the areas in the northern part of Austin just west of I-35 have done the best with basically no drop in home prices. Areas of the city with more expensive homes have dropped the most with some areas between 10% to 17%. This makes sense since the more expensive homes have the higher inventory levels.
I would expect that the housing recovery in Austin will be quicker than most areas of the country and should occur once the credit markets loosen up again. |
