Austin real estate prices are still not exactly on fire. But they are rising and inventory is shrinking while the number sales increase. This is a recipe for better appreciation, but as the report below outlines, Austin is still seeing modest real estate price gains relative to other parts of Texas and the U.S.
COLLEGE STATION (Realtor.org, recenter.tamu.edu)
While homes appreciated 47 percent in the Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale, Arizona, area (when comparing second quarter 2004 with second quarter 2005), Texas cities had less dramatic gains. The National Association of Realtors (NAR) reports that El Paso home prices increased 13.4 percent in value, the largest gain among the Texas cities the association surveys.Homes in Amarillo sold for prices 11.4 percent higher, and in Corpus Christi, homes appreciated 10.3 percent. The Beaumont-Port Arthur area barely changed, with prices up only 0.6 percent. Prices increased 2.4 percent in the Houston-Baytown-Sugar Land area and in the Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington area, 5.7 percent.
The Real Estate Center’s website compares home prices on a monthly rather than quarterly basis. Of the metros that report MLS data to the Center, Abilene and El Paso had the greatest home appreciation from June 2004 to June 2005. The median price of an existing home in these cities went up 15 percent. Housing in Galveston (not on the NAR list of metros) was up 13 percent and in Fort Worth (separate from Dallas and Arlington) was up 10 percent.
Dallas home prices were up 2 percent; Houston, 3 percent; Austin, 4 percent; and San Antonio, 10 percent.
For more information on home prices in various Texas metro areas, see
http://recenter.tamu.edu/data/hs/trends4.html.