ONLINE DESIGN EDUCATION

“Here’s the data (1st 6 months last year to same period this year) for Eastside (which is NOT Seattle, but a few miles away), everything east of Lake WA, included Bellevue and 5 or 6 others cities:

Average sale price for 4/2.5 single family (2005) $572k to (2006) $697k. Median 2005 $460k to 2006 $572k.

DOM 56 to 55

Total units sold for 1st half each year (2005) 4,968 (2006) 3,771

It looks like we still have demand, lower supply with 20% appreciation, give or take. You maths guys can provide the exact % #’s.”

Appreciation rates in the Austin MLS area from the Austin Board of REALTORS®:

• 2006 through the end of May was +12% 2005 was +6%
• 2004 was -1%
• 2003 was 0% 2002 was -1%

Does this help explain why investors have been coming here? The other thing is our median price, which was at $174,000 at the end of May, 2006. The average price was higher at $236,406. The median price is still well below the national average. The average price is better than areas like Southern California, Seattle and Phoenix.

• So looking at what were hot markets until recently, it looks like Phoenix and South Golf Coast Florida have cooled. Calgary is on fire and areas east of Seattle are doing well. Southern California, from what I understand, has been cooling. So a big reason investors have been flocking to Austin is because other markets they had been investing have peaked. Another is the steady growth in the Austin area. We’re adding jobs, people are buying second homes and people are retiring here. Real more about Austin real estate stats.