The #1 thing going for the downtown Austin Condo market is downtown Austin. In downtown Houston, where they also have a brand new crop of high rise condos, very few people want to live downtown. In the other neighborhoods where towers have popped up, picky residents can live nearby in larger, less expensive housing. Here…
New, Less Restricttive FHA Rules for Condo Loans
In a dramatic temporary reversal of policy , the Federal Housing Administration is giving condo buyers a much-needed break. Last week, the FHA, the federal agency that insures low-down-payment home loans for private lenders, said it was relaxing its building underwriting guidelines as a way of helping the struggling sector ride out the downturn. The move…
Exclusive: October Downtown Condo Sales
We’ve updated the AustinTowers | TOWERS Realty Downtown Austin Condo Market Index for October, 2009. For the fourth month in a row, MLS sales were higher than the previous year’s numbers. The most recent numbers suggest that the bottom of the downtown Austin condo market was likely hit this spring. Over the last few months, sales, prices, and price-per-square-foot have…
Analysis: Downtown Condo Supply & Demand
Over the last ten years, the Austin metropolitan area population has grown by 500,000 people. Over the last three years, 100,000 more people have moved to Austin than have left the city. In 2008 alone, the Austin population increased by more than 60,000 people. In addition to explaining why it took 50 minutes for me to…
Exclusive: Strong October & September Downtown Condo Sales
In the year between the summer of 2008 and the summer of 2009, a typical month saw 8 downtown condo sales captured in the Austin MLS. In four of those months, only 4 units sold. In the best month, 13 units sold. All of this has changed in the last two months. Between September 1…
New Home Buyer Tax Credits in Works
The U.S. Senate is working on a bill that would extend the first-time buyer home credit of $8,000 and add a new credit of $6,500 for homeowners who have lived in their current home for 5 years or more. The new provision, if enacted, would go into effect on December 1, 2009. The new bill…