Statistics on the Austin housing market show improvement. During the last two months sales have increased, new listings have held steady, and the housing inventory levels in Austin have dropped. Inventory levels in propertes below $200,000 have moved back into a Seller's Market and the inventories in the $200K-$300K range are almost back to being in a Seller's Market. This is good news. What is more difficult to determine is whether this is due to the normal improvement seen during this time of the year or whether it is a permanent turn around. The table below shows inventory levels for March of Austin homes in different price ranges.
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Inventory Levels Based on Home Price in the Austin Area for March 2009
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Home Prices
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Sales
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Listings
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Mar.Inventory
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Feb.Inventory
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100K-200K
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685
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2861
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4.2months
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5.6 months
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200K-300K
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308
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2218
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7.2 months
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7.4 months
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300K-500K
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222
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2102
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9.5 months
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12.7 months
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500K-1M
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65
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1425
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21.9 months
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24.2 months
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There is a lot of fluctuation in our market at the moment, which could be an indication of a change in the market. Last month some of the hardest hit areas in price change were the southwest Austin area, Dripping Springs, Lake Travis, and north/northwest Austin which were all down in value by double digits from one year ago. This month those areas have improved dramatically at -2%, +1%, -3%, and 0% respectively. Sales volumes in all those areas are significant so I don't believe it to be a statistical error but it seems to be a real change. As I noted before, perhaps it's just the usual Spring improvement or perhaps it is a real change.
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