Austin Home Sales Up 16%

A couple of excerpts from todays TAMU RECON publication:

AUSTIN HOME SALES UP 16 PERCENT

AUSTIN (Austin Board of Realtors) – Sales of existing single-family homes in the Capital City were up 16 percent last month from a year ago, reports the Austin Board of Realtors (ABoR).

According to MLS data released today by ABoR, 1,283 homes were sold in February 2012, while the median price was $195,000, 3 percent more than the same time last year.

“For nine months in a row, Austin has seen year-over-year increases in sales volume,” said ABoR Chair Leonard Guerrero. “In addition, we also saw a modest increase in the median home price in February 2012, which could indicate more competition among buyers for a shrinking inventory of homes.”

The local market had 4.2 months of inventory last month, 1.5 months less than February 2011. The market had 9 percent more new listings, 20 percent fewer active listings and 25 percent more pending sales than a year ago. On average, homes spent 86 days on the market, 12 days less than February 2011.

TWO TEXAS CITIES ADDED TO IMPROVING MARKETS INDEX

WASHINGTON (National Association of Home Builders) – The latest Improving Markets Index (IMI), released last week by the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB), shows significant improvement in 99 housing markets in the United States.

The index, which identifies metropolitan areas with at least six consecutive months of improvements in housing permits, home prices and employment, now has 12 Texas cities, including newcomers Austin and San Antonio.  Other Texas cities making the list are Amarillo, College Station, Dallas, Laredo, Longview, McAllen, Midland, Odessa, Tyler and Victoria.

NAHB Chief Economist David Crowe believes the improvements are significant.  “The bottom line is that roughly one quarter of all U.S. metropolitan areas are showing signs that their housing markets have turned the corner, which is a very positive development,” he said.

The latest IMI is available at the NAHB website.