GRANT COUNTY WASHINGTON POLICIES
It looks like we still have demand, lower supply with 20% appreciation, give or take. You maths guys can provide the exact % #’s.”
Appreciation rates in the Austin MLS area from the Austin Board of REALTORS®:
EDUCATION REALTY
2006 through the end of May was +12% 2005 was +6%
2004 was -1%
2003 was 0% 2002 was -1%
CL CONTINUING EDUCATION PHYSICAL THERAPY
- Does this help explain why investors have been coming here? The other thing is our median price, which was at $174,000 at the end of May, 2006. The average price was higher at $236,406. The median price is still well below the national average. The average price is better than areas like Southern California, Seattle and Phoenix.
- So looking at what were hot markets until recently, it looks like Phoenix and South Golf Coast Florida have cooled. Calgary is on fire and areas east of Seattle are doing well. Southern California, from what I understand, has been cooling. So a big reason investors have been flocking to Austin is because other markets they had been investing have peaked. Another is the steady growth in the Austin area. We’re adding jobs, people are buying second homes and people are retiring here. Real more about Austin real estate stats.
Keep watching the Austin real estate market. Investors who can’t get into new homes in subdivisions now are pretty bummed. I think investors who got in a year ago will be very pleased.
SPECIAL EDUCATION LAWS IDEA
As the Austin real estate market has strengthened we have been inundated with investors. A good number of them have been buying new homes in master planned communities or other developing neighborhoods. This has had many residents in these areas pretty angry. They don't like to see "for lease" signs all over the place.
- Most builders, at least the ones I have spoken with, will no longer sell to anyone who will not use the home as the primary residence. Some will sell a very limited number of homes to investors when they open a new part of a development. However, the builder’s reps I have talked with already have a list of hungry agents who represent agents lined up. So any investor without an agent on one of these prized lists is probably out of luck.
Why have the investors become such a big part of the Austin market? Take a look at where real estate prices have run up with huge rates of appreciation over the last few years. Then look at what is happening in some of those markets right now. Then look at Austin real estate market stats at the end of this article.