Real Estate Marketing & Beyond
We’ve seen several markets moving on up over the last few months, but there’s no state hotter than Texas at the moment when it comes to real estate. And out of a dozen or so cities in the state that are surpassing all expectations, none are doing better than the city of Austin, which according to one real estate professional, is positively flourishing right now.
Courtesy StuSeeger
Hippie Hollow Homes, one of Austin’s hottest real estate firms at the minute, has just released a report that details one of the most optimistic outlooks of any real estate market we’ve seen in years. And this is not some kind of egotistic, self-promoting report typical of so many realtors who put out a press release now and then in the hope of getting some traffic to their sites. On the contrary, Hippie Hollow Homes, despite its ever-so-slightly offbeat name, is actually one of the major players on the Austin real estate scene, having been involved in more than 1,200 transactions since commencing operations in 2004.
So why are we getting so excited about Austin? Simply because the city’s market is positively booming right now, says Hippie Hollow Homes President Shenoah Grove. And what’s more, the stats absolutely back up those claims, highlighting Austin as one of the best performing markets in the country at the moment. Austin is blazing a trial for others to follow – there is simply no better to place to be trying to sell a home right now.
Hippie Hollow Homes report comes in infographic form, but Grove’s comments summarize the findings as well as anyone could do:
"How good is the Austin market right now?" asks Grove.
"There are 1,531 single-family homes for sale within Austin as of 01/15/13, averaging 107 days on the market. When a market averages under 180 days, it is said to be a ‘sellers’ market, so 107 days on the market means that the Austin real estate market is flourishing."
A few facts from the report demonstrate that this is much more than just misplaced optimism. According to Hippie Hollow Homes, December marked the 19th consecutive month of increased home sales, with exactly 1,828 single-family homes changing hands, a 17% increase on December 2011. Median home prices were tallied at $210,000 – 11% higher than on year ago. Meanwhile, the average number of days in which a property waits to be sold fell to just 71 in December. This stat above all else is the real kicker – proof positive that Austin is absolutely flying right now.
More than likely there’ll be good news to come to, with another 1,519 pending home sales waiting to be finalized, out of a total of 5,129 active single-family home listings – 22% less than December 2011, by the way. Inventory has also fallen noticeably, with Austin having just 2.7 month’s supply, a whole 1.4 months less than the same month one year ago.
To discuss the state of Austin’s real estate market and its prospects for the year ahead, Mrs Grove has announced she will make a “Real Estate State of the Union” address via Austin’s Real Estate Networking Club next month, on February 21.
"Just because the market in Austin has shown great improvement over the past year doesn't mean that everyone is in a good position to sell their house quickly," warns Grove.
"If you have little, no, or even negative equity, you can still sell your home fast in Austin, Texas. But you may require the assistance of an experienced real estate professional to do so."
