Austin Real Estate

Austin Real Estate About Us News Press Releases Austin Real Estate Market Healthy, Despite Mortgage Shakeups

Austin Real Estate Market Healthy, Despite Mortgage Shakeups

Despite recent media coverage proclaiming the woes in the home mortgage industry, Austin’s real estate market remains healthy and poised for growth, according to experts at Goldwasser Real Estate, the city’s top-ranked residential Austin real estate firm.

“I believe most of the hesitation we are seeing locally is a result of the barrage of headlines about the national real estate market and the fallout from the subprime lending market,” says CEO Chad Goldwasser. “While these events may marginally affect Austin, they shouldn’t be having as great an impact as they are.”

Greg Cooper, vice president of sales, notes that Austin never experienced the dramatic rise in home prices that has troubled many other markets around the country.

“There are absolutely no fundamental problems in the Austin real estate market,” Cooper says, and most Austin-area buyers have not been adversely affected by the mortgage industry. “Unless you have bad credit, most buyers have nothing to worry about.”

Compared to the same time period last year, sales of single-family homes in the Austin area declined by 10 percent, while the number of active listings rose by 21 percent, according to statistics from the Austin Board of Realtors Multiple Listing Service (MLS). In the past six months, the number of active single-family homes on the market has also increased by more than 26 percent to 9,819, the highest inventory in three years.

“Austin has a great selection of homes to choose from, making this a great time to buy,” Cooper says. “It’s like having a clearance sale.”

Goldwasser cites the following statistics that point to the strong Austin economy and, in turn, the bright future of the local housing market:

• “Business Week” named Austin the most affordable housing market of any metro area in the nation.
• A September 18 “Business Week” article highlighted Austin as one of the few markets where home prices are expected to appreciate by more than 5 percent over the next two years, meaning the area is still attractive for investors.
• Austin is in the top 10 markets nationally for job growth and actually has the healthiest job market in the last 6 years; job growth has been above 4 percent for the past year, according to recent reports.
• Austin’s foreclosure rate has actually fallen since last year.
• Austin is expected to double in population in the next 20 years.

About Goldwasser Real Estate

Goldwasser Real Estate was named the number one residential Austin real estate team in 2006 by the Austin Business Journal, and was ranked the number one team internationally for Keller Williams Realty in May. The company closed more than $80 million in sales and sold nearly 400 homes in the Austin area in 2006.