Strange Trends in Downtown Condo Sales

During the first 3 months of this year, 32 units were sold in Spring and the 3 major luxury projects: the Austonian, W Residences, and the Four Seasons. Across all four projects, the average sales price was an amazingly high $952,000. Now, just 221 new condo units remain downtown — almost all in the Austonian, the Four Seasons, and the W.

We’ve tracked the sporadic reporting of downtown sales over the last two years and now the trend show some very interesting results. First, Spring and the Four Seasons are selling at a very good clip. While the data is less reliable, the W and Austonian sales seem to be relatively flat.

In comparison, sales at BartonPlace across the lake have been very weak with just 37% of units sold after two years of marketing. In September of 2010, BartonPlace reported that 154 units were sold or under contract. A year ago, they reported that 85 units were sold and 54 were under contract. The new data suggests that just 100 units are sold or under contract — 54 fewer than were reported in September of 2010.

Here is the detailed data:

Spring
Now: 242 / 247 units sold or under contract
One Year Ago: 215 / 248 units sold or under contract (201 sold & 14 under contract)
September, 2010: 158 / 248 units sold or under contract
Y/Y Change: + 28 units sold or under contract

W Residences
Now: 89 / 159 units sold or under contract (estimated)
One Year Ago: 86 / 159 units sold or under contract (40 sold & 46 under contract)
Last September: 84 / 159 units sold or under contract
Change: + 3 units sold or under contract

Four Seasons
Now: 108 / 148 units sold or under contract
One Year Ago: 79 / 148 units sold or under contract (68 sold & 11 under contract)
September, 2010: 77 / 148 units sold or under contract
Change: + 29 units sold or under contract

BartonPlace
Now: 100 / 270 units sold or under contract
One Year Ago: 139 / 270 units sold or under contract (85 sold & 54 under contract)
September, 2010: 154 / 270 units sold or under contract
Change: – 39 units sold or under contract

Austonian
Now: 89 / 162 units sold or under contract (estimated)

There are just four condo buildings with available new units in downtown Austin. Of these, Spring is the only mid-priced project. As of the end of March, the project had just 5 units remaining. With Spring essentially sold out, it will be many years before new mid-price inventory will be available downtown. In the meantime, there will be increased demand on the mid-price resale market as people who want to live downtown purchase existing units.