Analysis: 2010 Condo Sales Results

The Annual AustinTowers | TOWERS Realty Condo Sales Report
2010 Analysis: Downtown Austin Condo Sales

Despite the tough economy and weak national mortgage market, 2010 downtown Austin condo sales increased 50% over 2009 results. With 168 downtown Austin condo sales tracked through the Austin Multiple Listing Service (MLS) and with prices just 1% lower than 2009, 2010 was a surprisingly strong sales year.

For downtown Austin, this is great news. With more than 2,000 new downtown condo units built downtown in the last decade, overcapacity and the real estate downturn threatened to depress condo prices. The 2010 sales results show that the market remains quite strong given the difficulties facing the broader real estate and mortgage markets.

While sales volumes increased substantially — not including additional non-MLS sales at the Austonian, Four Seasons, Spring, and BartonPlace — market pricing remained essentially unchanged at $294 per square foot – a 1% decline from $296 / sq foot in 2009. Because the average unit size increased by 3% to 1,142, average sales price increased 4% from $330K to $344K.

2010 Downtown Condo Sales: 2009 v. 2010

A close look at the 168 recorded MLS transactions revealed the following highlights:

• 360 was the downtown project with the most sales (38) and the highest $ / SF ($378)
• The average time to sell a condo was 100-days, a 12-day increase from 2009.
• 8 units sold for $1 million or more during 2010 compared with 2 in 2009 and 1 in 2008. 5-Fifty-Five, the condo building over the Hilton hotel, had the most million dollar sales with 3 during 2010.
• 38 units sold for less than $200,000 with the least expensive condo selling for $86,000.
• Austin City Lofts saw the sales price per unit at $674,643 while Greenwood Towers, built in 1966, saw the lowest average price per unit at $114,500
• Units sold the fastest in the Sabine, a recent condo conversion project, with an average of just 34-days on the market. Units sold slowest at Plaza Lofts with an average of 341 days on the market.

While 2010 was a very strong year compared to 2009, it’s interesting to compare 2010 to 2008 — the first year that many of the new projects hit the market. In comparison, 2010 saw volumes increase 29% of 2008: from 130 to 168 units. Price per square foot decreased 4% from $308 to $294. Average days on market — the time required to sell the average unit — increased by a week to 100 days.

There is much more! See the full report here!

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