Exclusive: November and December Sales Set New Records!

We’ve updated the AustinTowers | TOWERS Realty Downtown Austin Condo Market Index for November and December, 2011, and our seasonally neutral 12-month tracking index set four new records in each of the two months. With November and December sales included, the 12-month tracking index set records for the highest $/square foot ($329), average sales price ($388,157), and % of list (96.4%) as well as the lowest average days on market (83.4). However, after a long streak of increasing monthly sales, both November and December saw significant decreases in the absolute number of monthly sales.

Month	Sales	Avg. Price	$/SF	Avg SF	Avg Year	% Ask	ADOM
Nov-08	8	$460,973	$322	1,361	1989	93%	151
Nov-09	13	$292,018	$286	1,022	1995	96%	78
Nov-10	11	$264,200	$258	1,032	1984	94%	124
Nov-11	8	$537,494	$431	1,132	2008	98%	78
YoY Change	-27%	103%	67%	10%	24.00	5%	-37%

Month	Sales	Avg. Price	$/SF	Avg SF	Avg Year	% Ask	ADOM
Dec-08	4	$258,500	$299	848	1986	95%	89
Dec-09	8	$386,813	$343	1,129	1990	95%	59
Dec-10	19	$409,346	$292	1,341	1996	96%	96
Dec-11	14	$629,211	$394	1,465	1991	95%	94
YoY Change	-26%	54%	35%	9%	-5.00	-1%	-2%

One of the factors driving high sales values was the inclusion of two big dollar sales. One of these was a $2.35 million sale in the W, the most expensive unit recorded in MLS since we began tracking downtown sales 4-years ago. As a result, both months show significant improvements in price, $/SF, and size. Days on market continues to improve, showing increased strength in the downtown market. Sales also showed a shift toward higher price bands with 7 units sold for $200K – $300K, 5 for $300K to $500K, an amazing 8 for $500K to $1 million, and 2 for more than $1 million.

Top buildings during the two-month period were 360 with 7 sales and Spring & W which each had two sales. The remaining sales were spread across 7 additional buildings. As usual, additional private sales — which are not reflected in the MLS data — continued to close at Spring, Four Seasons, the W and Austonian.

See the full index here.