Archive for June, 2008

Austin home sales may be gaining strength

Published June 26, 2008 Development News , National News , condos , downtown Leave a Comment

Austin home sales may be gaining strength

Friday, June 20, 2008 – 10:35 AM CDT

Austin Business Journal

It’s showing signs of a possible rebound, but the Austin home market remains sluggish.

Single-family home sales in the metro area totaled 2,154 in May, down 20 percent com-pared with May 2007, according to data from the Austin Board of Realtors. However, the May figure is the highest number of total sales the area has experienced in eight months.

Austin is not seeing the drastic price drops that many other markets around the country have experienced. The average price for a single-family home stood at $263,151 in May, up 5 percent from a year ago.

“Despite economic conditions across the nation, Austin continues to have a relatively low unemployment rate and cost-of-living index,” says ABoR Chairman Socar Chatmon-Thomas. “While we’re not enjoying the booming real estate markets of 2006 and 2007, we have seen steady increases in sales volume since January 2008.”

Pending single-family home sales totaled 1,418 in May, down 55 percent from May 2007. New listings for the month were down 7 percent from a year ago.

Townhome and condo sales are also on the downswing. A total of 239 units were sold in May, a 24 percent decline from a year ago.

 

Austin does it again

Published June 25, 2008 Uncategorized Leave a Comment

This year Austin was ranked sixth in the nation’s best cities to live in.  Some years we’re first, some years we’re fourth . . . either way . .  . we’re always on the list and this is something that every Austinite should be thankful for.  With recession-type woes hitting just about every family in America, knowing that your city is desireable, growing, and changing is a blessing beyond belief.  While many cities are seeing jobs declining as quickly as food and gas prices are rising, Austin plans to add more than 50,000 new jobs over the next two years, making Austin desireable not just because of our beautiful sunny weather, nice people, and Tuscan-inspired landscape, but also because people will also be able to live and work affordably here.  View the whole story here: 

Population: 1,506,425
Population Growth Since 2000: 17%
Percentage of Workforce in Creative Class: 36.5%
Cost-of-Living Index: 92.8 (100 being national average)
Median Household Income: $52,882
Income Growth Since 2000: 12.2%

 

 

Trammell Crow awarded Green Water Treatment Plant Redevelopment

Published June 23, 2008 Development News , condos , downtown Leave a Comment
Tags: , , ,

Courtesy Mithun Architects & Trammell Crow Co.

Last week the City Council awarded Trammell Crow the largest downtown development Austin has seen.  The decommissioned Green Water Treatment Plant and the 7 prime acres of land it sits on is slated to become a mixed use development containing more than 2 million square feet of retail, hospitality, apartments, condos and outdoor plazas.  Trammell’s proposal includes 5 towers with green roof space, seen at left, with a solar panel field to help generate clean energy for the project.  The proposal also includes a public library (white L shaped building on Cesar Chavez), numerous outdoor plazas, and a directive for 320 affordable housing units held below market rate for qualifying families.  The affordable units will be reserved for households making less than 80% of the area median income.  In total the project includes:

  • 5 towers as tall as 725 feet
  • 265 apartments
  • 500 condominiums
  • 588,000 SF office space
  • 160,000 SF retail
  • 375 room hotel

Full financial details will not be released until the City and Trammell finalize a development deal that could take up to a year to ink.  Perry Lorenz and Constructive Ventures are also a part of the development team, with financial backing coming from USAA.  Construction is planned to commence in 2010.

Markets that missed the boom

Published June 4, 2008 Uncategorized Leave a Comment

Challenging real estate markets can be found across the U.S. as home prices decline, sales fall and foreclosures rise. But in some places the biggest challenge has been convincing would-be buyers and sellers that local conditions don’t resemble the national trends.

It’s a challenge that Randy Jeffers, chairman of the Texas Association of Realtors, faces all the time.   Read the full story here.

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