Recently the Kenan Institute, in partnership with UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School, launched the American Growth Project, which aims to provide economic data, analysis and forecasting for cities and counties across the US. This project supports government officials, business leaders and decision makers, in near real time, short-, medium- and long-term economic forecasts. Why is this […]
Austin Named #1 US City Where Prices are Dropping the Most
Recently, Realtor.com posted an article naming the 10 cities where home prices are dropping the most right now. Austin takes the top spot on this list with a 10.3% decrease in median price from June to September from their data. They cite the reason as higher interest rates scaring away buyers. If you read on, […]
Is the Austin Real Estate Market Slowing?
We’ve been seeing a lot of changes to the Austin housing market over the past 3 months. Interest rates that were promising to go up finally did. Central Texas county assessors increased assessed values more than they have in years past, drastically increasing property taxes. Homeowners insurance rates have also sharply increased. Combine those factors […]
Why Interest Rate Quoted During Pre-Approval Doesn’t Matter
When most people shop for a home loan, they lead with “please send me your rates” rather than interviewing the mortgage broker or loan officer to see what they’re going to do to work for them. What they don’t understand is the mortgage interest rate quoted during the pre-approval process before you have a signed […]
When Interest Rates are Low, Buyers Can Afford More
The traditional 30-year fixed interest rate loan in Austin has dropped from near 4.0% to about 3.22% over the past year. The mortgage interest rate drops mean greater buyer purchasing power – much greater than a decrease in home prices. With the same monthly payment, buyers can borrow more money today than they could one […]
Time to Purchase Austin Investment Real Estate
WOW! I’m amazed at how quickly a formerly depressed segment of the Austin real estate market can turn around. The Austin, Texas small unit (2-4 units) rental market is a textbook example. The notable drop in home ownership rates from 69% in 2005 to 66% in 2011 has created about 5 million new renter households. […]