Austin Property Values
Sections of this post were extracted from wikipedia.org
Austin is the Capital of Texas
Austin is the capital of the U.S. State of Texas as well as the seat of Travis County.
Located in Central Texas on the eastern edge of the American Southwest, Austin is the fourth-largest city in Texas and the 15th-largest in the United States. It was the third-fastest-growing large city in the nation from 2000 to 2006. According to the 2009 U.S. Census estimate, Austin had a population of 757,688. The city is the cultural and economic center of the Austin–Round Rock–San Marcos metropolitan area, with a population of 1,705,075 as of the July 2009 U.S. Census estimate, making it the 36th-largest metropolitan area in the United States
The Balcones Escarpment
Austin is located in Central Texas along the Balcones Escarpment and Interstate 35, northeast of San Antonio.
The elevation of the city of Austin varies from 425 feet (130 m) to approximately 1,000 feet (305 m) above sea level. As of 2010 the city occupies a total area of 271.8 square miles (704 km2). Approximately 6.9 square miles (18 km2) of this area is water.
Austin Means High Tech
Austin is considered to be a major center for high tech.
Thousands of graduates each year from the engineering and computer science programs at The University of Texas at Austin provide a steady source of employees that help to fuel Austin’s technology and defense industry sectors. The metro Austin area has much lower housing costs than Silicon Valley, but much higher housing costs than many parts of rural Texas.
As a result of the high concentration of high-tech companies in the region, Austin was strongly affected by the dot-com boom in the late 1990s and subsequent bust. Austin’s largest employers include the Austin Independent School District, the City of Austin, Dell, the United States Federal Government, Freescale Semiconductor (spun off from Motorola in 2004), IBM, St. David’s Healthcare Partnership, Seton Healthcare Network, the State of Texas, Texas State University-San Marcos, and the University of Texas at Austin, The University of Texas.
Major Austin Employers
Other high-tech companies with operations in Austin include 3M, Apple Inc., Hewlett-Packard, Google, AMD, Applied Materials, Cirrus Logic, Cisco Systems, eBay/PayPal, Hoover’s, Intel Corporation, National Instruments, Samsung Group, Silicon Laboratories, Sun Microsystems and United Devices. The proliferation of technology companies has led to the region’s nickname, “the Silicon Hills,” and spurred development that greatly expanded the city.
Austin Property Values
Market Data for Austin through April 2010:
So how are we doing as a whole? I will try and paint the big picture for you and try to be as clear as possible. The numbers that you’re about to read are all for the entire city of Austin. A couple of things to take into consideration when reading these numbers, and what they actually mean. a) cyclical markets b) national economy c) interest rates. So as of date of this post you must consider that we just came out of the holiday season, and we’re heading into spring, and summer which are typically the strongest months for real estate sales.
So below I have broken it down as follows: Number of sales, Sold price (high, low, and median), Size (high, low, and median), and Days on market (high, low, and median). I have broken it down even further into type of dwelling: Homes, Condos/Townhouses, and Duplexes. Finally, to compare just for kicks, I’m also posting two separate periods: 4/1/2008 – 4/1/2009 and 4/1/2009 – 4/1/2010. So I’ll let you read and be the judge of how our beautiful city is doing overall.
Single Family Homes
First period: 4/1/2008 to 4/1/2009
Sold homes: 8,195 Sold price; High:$5,150,000 Low: $35,000 Median: $240,000
Size; High: 15,266 sq.ft Low: 360 sq.ft Median: 1,945 sq.ft and Days on market; High: 663 days Low: 0 days Median: 40 days
Second period: 4/1/2009 to 4/1/2010
Sold homes: 8,619 Sold price; High: $5,500,000 Low: $20,000 Median: $232,000
Size; High: 13,974 sq.ft Low:100 sq.ft Median: 1,936 sq.ft and Days on market; High: 1,022 days Low: 0 days Median: 40 days
Condos/Townhomes
First period: 4/1/2008 to 4/1/2009
Sold condos/townhomes: 1,672 Sold price; High: $1,800,000 Low: $19,000 Median: $171,000
Size; High: 3,087 sq.ft Low: 304 sq.ft Median: 1,086 sq.ft and Days on market; High: 992 days Low: 0 days Median: 43 days
Second period: 4/1/2009 to 4/1/2010
Sold condos/townhomes: 1,803 Sold price; High: $1,368,000 Low: $21,900 Median: $157,500
Size; High: 2,780 sq.ft Low: 300 sq.ft Median: 1,030 sq.ft and Days on market; High: 873 days Low: 0 days Median: 53 days
Duplexes
First period: 4/1/2008 to 4/1/2009
Sold duplexes: 310 Sold price; High: $630,000 Low: $50,000 Median: $188,500
Size; High: 4,790 sq.ft Low: 864 sq.ft Median: 1,989 sq.ft and Days on market; High: 544 days Low: 0 days Median: 38 days
Second period: 4/1/2009 to 4/1/2010
Sold duplexes: 293 Sold price; High: $897,000 Low: $25,000 Median: $170,000
Size; High: 4,240 sq.ft Low: 840 sq.ft Median: 1,940 sq.ft and Days on market; High: 627 days Low: 0 days Median: 39 days
All data provided herein was obtained from MLS, it is deemed to be reliable, and accurate; however, it is not guaranteed by the author. This article is only intended to serve as general market information for the above mentioned community, and only for the above mentioned periods as the market is always changing. If you are a lender, a real estate professional, or a home owner and would like an accurate appraisal of a specific home, feel free to contact us.