The U.S. unemployment rate crept back up to 9% last week, but some cities are feeling the pain far worse than others. Roughly 112 metro areas in the U.S. are still dealing with 10% unemployment or greater. That’s down from 166 at the same time last year, but tell that to folks in El Centro, [...]
Read More...Austin Community, Austin economy, Austin Jobs, Austin News, Real Estate
These may be far from the best of times, but they are no longer the worst. Last year’s annual “Best Cities for Jobs” list was by far the most dismal since we began compiling our rankings almost five years ago. Between 2009 and 2010, only 13 of 397 metropolitan areas experienced any growth at all. [...]
Read More...While housing, and homebuilding in particular, have taken a massive hit due to the Great Recession, many housing experts do not expect this trend to continue long term as more unemployed Americans get back to work, empty-nesters begin to downsize or build their dream homes, and ‘boomerang kids’ who were “doubling-up,” or living with their [...]
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1. Jobs. Housing follows jobs. Period. And while the job market is still slow or non-existent in many areas (nationally as well as regionally), we all know Austin continues to be the leading market in the nation for job growth. 2. Jobs. At the risk of being redundant, housing follows jobs. Consumer confidence is close [...]
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Picky, picky, picky! Are today’s first-time home buyers passing up great deals because they insist on flawless “move-in ready” houses requiring little or no changes – even at the starter-home price levels at which shoppers traditionally have been willing to factor fix-ups and renovations into their offers? Or are they simply reflecting market realities? They [...]
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by SHELTON GREEN It is not surprising to many people that Austin has the highest apartment rents of any city in Texas, but what some may find compelling is that the Capitol City saw the largest, fastest, and highest jump in apartment occupancy this year compared to last. According to A.L.N. Apartment Data, Austin’s apartment [...]
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The rich are different from you and me: They’re buying real estate. After four straight years of declines, sales of million-dollar homes and condos rose last year in all 20 major metro areas, according to DataQuick Information Systems. On average, these cities saw an 18.6% jump in high-end home sales. San Jose, Calif., had the [...]
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Warren Buffett is looking for acquisitions as an outlet to deploy his $38 billion cash pile, the legendary investor said in his annual letter to Berkshire Hathaway Inc shareholders on Saturday. Buffett gave an aggressive earnings forecast for Berkshire’s collection of businesses, said the company would engage in record capital spending and forecast a recovery [...]
Read More...Austin Community, Austin economy, Austin News, Austin Real Estate News, Uncategorized
Apartment occupancy levels, a healthy resale supply and new home inventory at record lows put Austin in a positive position in 2011, according to a recent report by Metrostudy, a national housing data and consulting firm that maintains the most extensive primary database on residential construction in the US housing market. “With economists forecasting 2% [...]
Read More...Austin Community, Austin economy, Austin News, Austin Real Estate News, Real Estate
AUSTIN (Austin Business Journal) – 1/7/2011 – MPF Research predicts the Texas capital will become the country’s second best apartment industry performer this year, just behind San Jose, California. Austin’s apartment occupancy increased 3.6 percentage points over the last year to 93.5 percent, one of the nation’s strongest increases. Austin’s occupancy is anticipated to rise an additional [...]
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