WISCONSIN CHILD GRANTS

2003 was 0% 2002 was -1%

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. 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.
• From Jay Thompson about the Phoenix real estate market:

“A year ago, the Phoenix market was just insane. Last years AVERAGE appreciation was 47 - 56% (depending on whose numbers you use). Some homes more than doubled in value over the last 12 months.

• Houses were selling in hours, literally, with multiple offers significantly over list price.

Builders were holding lotteries for lots. No investors could buy new homes, and many builders cut buyer agent co-brokes to 0%. Builders would pre-announce a new subdivision and hundreds of people would show up once a month to see if their name was one of a dozen drawn from a hat. If it was, they had to put some ungodly amount of non-refundable earnest money down and then wait 12 months for their home to be completed.