Austin Business Journal

EXISTING HOME SALES DOWN IN TEXAS

TEXAS (Real Estate Center, MarketWatch) – A total of 21,638 existing homes were sold in Texas last month, a 10.3 percent decline from April 2007 according to MLS data compiled by the Real Estate Center at Texas A&M University. The median price rose 0.6 percent to $147,300 during the same period, and the state finished the month with a 6.5-month inventory on existing homes.

Here is how select Texas cities fared in April:

Amarillo

• 299 homes sold (4.9 percent increase over previous year)
• Median price of $124,900 (5.5 percent increase)
• Five-month inventory

Austin

• 2,217 homes sold (13.6 percent decrease)
• Median price of $186,900 (2.7 percent increase)
• 5.3-month inventory

Beaumont

• 210 homes sold (2.9 percent increase)
• Median price of $126,700 (7.6 percent increase)
• 7.1-month inventory

Brownsville

• 100 homes sold (31.6 percent increase)
• Median price of $88,800 (19.3 percent decrease)
• Inventory data not available

Bryan–College Station

• 253 homes sold (10 percent increase)
• Median price of $143,200 (3.2 percent decrease)
• 6.5-month inventory

Corpus Christi

• 395 homes sold (3.9 percent increase)
• Median price of $150,600 (13 percent increase)
• 8.6-month inventory

Dallas

• 4,448 homes sold (12.4 percent decrease)
• Median price of $161,300 (2.6 percent decrease)
• 6.7-month inventory

El Paso

• 292 homes sold (54.5 percent decrease)
• Median price of $126,700 (1.1 percent decrease)
• 10.9-month inventory

Fort Worth

• 848 homes sold (10.4 percent decrease)
• Median price of $112,600 (4.4 percent decrease)
• 6.2-month inventory

Galveston

• 390 homes sold (293.9 percent increase)
• Median price of $176,000 (7.8 percent increase)
• 14-month inventory

Houston

• 6,014 homes sold (11.7 percent decrease)
• Median price of $150,300 (0.7 percent increase)
• 6.6-month inventory

Lubbock

• 322 homes sold (13 percent increase)
• Median price of $108,400 (8.1 percent increase)
• 0.3-month inventory

San Antonio

• 1,754 homes sold (16.8 percent decrease)
• Median price of $152,500 (5.2 percent increase)
• 7.1-month inventory

Texarkana

• 90 homes sold (7.2 percent decrease)
• Median price of $100,000 (7 percent increase)
• 7.7-month inventory

Victoria

• 82 homes sold (2.4 percent decrease)
• Median price of $128,000 (20 percent increase)
• 6.1-month inventory

Waco

• 207 homes sold (7.3 percent increase)
• Median price of $111,200 (1.8 percent decrease)
• 9.4-month inventory

Additional home sales data for these and other Texas cities are available on the Center’s website.

Nationally, sales of existing single-family homes fell 0.5 percent last month to a 4.34 million annual pace, down 16 percent in the past year and 32 percent from the peak, according to the National Association of Realtors (NAR). The inventory increased to 10.7 months, the highest since 1985.

Meanwhile, sales of new homes in the United States rose 3.3 percent last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 526,000, according to the Commerce Department. However, sales are down 42 percent compared with a year ago. The median sales price rose 9.1 percent to $246,100, and the inventory was at 10.6 months.

Economic vitality goes to youthful metros

bizjournals - May 12, 2008 by G. Scott Thomas

Youthful spirit and economic vitality go hand in hand. Communities with large concentrations of young adults are more likely to prosper, according to a new bizjournals study.

The correlation is driven home by the study's comparison of metropolitan areas that skew young or old.

Group No. 1 consists of the 11 major markets where more than 25 percent of all residents are 18 to 34 years old. Group No. 2 contains 14 metros where fewer than 22 percent are young adults. Here's how they match up:

-- The young markets have been experiencing population growth of 2.1 percent per year since 2000. That's seven times the growth rate of 0.3 percent for the old markets.

-- The annual rate of job growth is 1.9 percent in the young metros compared to 0.4 percent in their older counterparts.

-- Personal income is climbing at a median pace of 3.4 percent per year in the young markets. The corresponding figure is 2.8 percent on the old side.

It's clear that having a high percentage of young adults can be an indicator of economic success. It tells marketers where to concentrate their efforts, entrepreneurs where to start businesses, and college graduates where to look for work.

But which markets offer the best prospects for people in the 18-34 age range these days? Bizjournals sought the answer by analyzing growth patterns, income levels and other key statistics to rank the nation's 67 largest metros as best places for young adults.

These are the five places currently offering the best job opportunities for young adults:

-- 1. Raleigh: This is the only market to finish in the top 10 in three key categories: population growth, job growth, and the percentage of young adults with college degrees. Raleigh is also blessed with a relatively low cost of living.

-- 2. Austin: Twenty-nine percent of Austin's residents are between the ages of 18 and 34. That's the heaviest concentration of young adults in any major metro.

-- 3. Washington: The District of Columbia can be an expensive place to live, but paychecks for workers in their 20s and 30s are among the highest in the nation.

-- 4. Las Vegas: The economy has slowed in Las Vegas in recent months, yet it remains the national leader in job growth since 2002, averaging 4.9 percent per year.

-- 5. Phoenix: The unemployment rate for 18- to 34-year-olds in Phoenix is 5.4 percent. That's three full percentage points below the U.S. average for the same age group.

Rounding out the top 10 in bizjournals' rankings of employment prospects for young adults are Salt Lake City, Charlotte, Seattle, Orlando and Houston.  Here is a media slide show of the top 10 cities for young adults - http://www.bizjournals.com/specials/slideshow/45.html

Bizjournals analyzed 67 major metropolitan areas, searching for qualities that would appeal to workers in their 20s and early 30s. The formula gave the highest marks to places with strong growth rates, moderate costs of living, and substantial pools of young college-educated adults with jobs.

The Sunbelt dominates the upper echelon in the national rankings. Eight of the 20 best markets for young adults are in the South, and seven are in the West.

Four of the five remaining slots are occupied by Eastern communities, while Minneapolis-St. Paul is the only Midwestern metro to make the top 20.

The competition to attract new and recent graduates to these labor markets is intensifying, partly because young adults are getter choosier.

"College-educated young people are looking for greater control over where they live," concluded a 2006 study by The Segmentation Co., a national research firm that surveyed 1,000 adults between the ages of 25 and 34. All of these respondents held college degrees and had lived in at least two communities since leaving school.

Quality-of-life issues are of prime importance to these mobile young workers. They told The Segmentation Co. that they're looking for places that offer strong professional opportunities, have good schools, and are affordable and clean.

The same factors were important components of bizjournals' 10-part formula, which analyzed each market's job-growth rate, education levels, and median rents, among other indicators.

The least desirable market for young adults, according to bizjournals, is New Orleans, sitting dead last in 67th place. New Orleans, which is still struggling to recover from the damage inflicted by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005, has the worst long-term rates of job and population growth in the study.

Four Midwestern industrial markets are just slightly above New Orleans, all offering relatively little to young adults: Detroit (66th place), Cleveland (65th), Dayton (64th) and Grand Rapids (63rd).

Will Upgrading
Your Home Help
You Sell It?

If you're putting your home on the market anytime soon, you may want to rethink those plans to bump out the kitchen or add an extra bath.

During the housing boom, such ambitious projects would recoup as much as 90 cents on the dollar. Not today. The resale value of improvements in general is sliding, according to experts. In a departure from recent trends, homeowners are getting the best payback from relatively mundane improvements, such as sprucing up the exterior of their house or putting in new windows.

CONTEMPLATING AN EXTRA ROOM

Homeowners are finding out that big home- improvement projects don't pay off as much as they once did:

• Large-scale kitchen and bathroom remodelings -- once foolproof ways to increase resale value -- are losing ground to more humble projects, such as new windows and backyard decks.

• Some projects, such as backup generators, have more appeal in certain regions.

After spending $400,000 remodeling the suburban East Greenwich, R.I., home he bought for $820,000 in 2002, Jonathan Salinger learned he probably couldn't sell it for more than $1.1 million in today's market. That's after posh additions that included landscaping, a pool, an outdoor kitchen, first-floor laundry and mud rooms, and custom cabinetry. As a result, the 45-year-old district manager for a mortgage lender recently decided not to list his house for sale and scratched plans to move the family closer to his children's private school in Providence.

The slumping housing market has made remodeling much trickier. When house prices were climbing ever higher, buyers knew they could spend big bucks to expand their homes and still make a profit when it came time to sell. But today, a buyer who spends unwisely on remodeling may be simply digging a deeper hole when it comes time to move.

Further complicating the equation: Even though housing prices are slumping, construction prices have continued to climb. That means adding that new bath will cost more, even as it contributes less to the resale value.

Homeowners have taken note. Remodeling activity peaked in 2006 before slowing last year. And it is expected to fall 4.8% this year, according to a report by the Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies released last month.

Since many homeowners remodel using borrowed money, tighter credit means it's also harder for many homeowners to afford big projects. Still, American homeowners will spend an estimated $166 billion on remodeling this year, according to the Harvard housing center.

CONSIDERING A HOME IMPROVEMENT?

Have you put off a home remodel because of the havoc it would wreak at home? Join a discussion about managing home construction along with work and family on The Juggle, the Journal's work and family blog.

Nationally, returns for all major home-improvement projects are fetching 70 cents on the dollar, according to a Remodeling magazine survey of real-estate professionals conducted late last year. That's down from 80 cents in 2004. Back then, a minor kitchen remodel cost an average $15,300 and recovered an estimated 93% if the home was resold within a year. Today, a similar remodel costs $21,100 and would recoup only about 83%.

This doesn't mean all remodeling is a waste of money. Home improvements that help a property stand out in a glut of newly built houses and foreclosed properties are most likely to pay off now, as are those that make a house lower-maintenance or more energy-efficient.

"Make the outside of the house look really great so that people fall in love between getting out of the car and the front door. That is money that is worth spending," says Diane Saatchi, senior vice president at the Corcoran Group real-estate agency, who sells high-end properties in the Hamptons of New York's Long Island.

Freshly painted trim and new hardware also help a home show well, says Ms. Saatchi. And landscaping, including well-manicured trees and shrubs, can help older homes compete against new ones that lack mature vegetation, she says.

New windows and doors and siding help homes look well-tended and spiffy from the street. They also help make houses more energy-efficient, which increasingly matters to buyers grappling with rising fuel and air-conditioning costs, experts say.

Some elaborate remodels, though, may actually make your home harder to sell, says New Mexico builder Lonny Rutherford. He notes that lenders are nixing higher-than-normal appraisals, and that many buyers are looking for a deal. Even if someone wanted to pay extra, they "would have a hard time financing the house unless they have a lot of cash," he says.

Inferior remodeling work may be worse than none at all. Cheap cabinets and poor workmanship won't fool buyers as they might have a few years ago, when many had to make snap decisions about buying a house, says Anslie Stokes, a real-estate agent in Washington, D.C.

"Buyers can spot shoddy renovations, and they aren't willing to pay for it anymore," Ms. Stokes says.

Some improvements have regional appeal. Backup power generators bring greater returns in the West and Southwest, following several seasons of extreme weather that can knock out electrical power, than in New England. Steel replacement roofs bring greater returns in wildfire-prone California than in Iowa or Minnesota, according to the Remodeling magazine survey. As for interior amenities, home buyers in some high-tech-focused cities find "wired" homes very desirable, but they aren't in demand everywhere.

"People are looking for broadband access and alarm systems," says Jim Amorin, a real-estate appraiser in Austin, Texas. "That is almost getting to be a necessity in my market." He says barbecues, pools and other home-entertaining amenities are also in demand in his part of the country. "In downward-trending economies, people spend more time at home, so they like things that make that more enjoyable."

Despite the real-estate meltdown, some homeowners are still putting their faith in renovations. Susie Hastings, a 61-year-old homemaker, recently spent $60,000 upgrading her mother's 1948 four-bedroom house in Farmington, N.M., for possible resale or rental. Ms. Hastings replaced all the windows and doors with double-paned energy-efficient ones, redid the stucco exterior and added a high-efficiency boiler to slice the utility bill. Now she hopes the house will sell for more than its previous appraised value of $220,000.

"It has made a big difference in the look," she says.

Write to M.P. McQueen at mp.mcqueen@wsj.com

Austin was named third on the Forbes.com list of the top 10 "Recession-Proof Cities" in the United States.

To create the list, the magazine looked at the 50 largest U.S. metros, examining key measures, such as unemployment data, non-farm related job growth, median home prices and data from a 2007 report, "U.S. Metro Economies: The Mortgage Crisis" by the U.S. Conference of Mayors.

Real the complete article at http://austin.bizjournals.com/austin/stories/2008/05/05/daily18.html

Wonderful Water Community

•  lot / land - MLS® $179,900

Hollows At Northshore, Jonestown  -  Are you ready to build your custom home in a wonderful waterfront community? If so, then The Hollows on Northshore is just the place for you. 1.1 acres in a master planned community with the Beach Club, a tasty restaurant and a world-class marina. This is the place and it's waiting for you.

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A National Association of Realtors (NAR) study shows that while house sales remained soft in March, the organization is forecasting sales will begin to improve over the summer.

Read more about what the economists are saying in the article posted by the Atlanta Business Chronicle.

Room to Roam !

• 1,520 sq. ft., 2 bath, 3 bdrm Single Story - MLS® $299,999 - 12.89 acres

Johnson City, Blanco County  -  Now is your chance to own a piece of the Central Texas Hill Country. 12.89 acres just north of Johnson City. Large, flat acreage that is great for horses; it even comes with a horse stall. In addition to a home for the horses, there is a fantastic 3 bedroom, 2 bath single story home with the perfect spot to swing on the front porch.

2 car carport attaches to another building that has a multitude of uses. It could be the perfect workshop for any of your hobbies, a game room away from the main house, or just a place to store all your extra belongings.

Located just north of Johnson City off Hwy 281, it's easy to get to just about anywhere from here. Come take a look.

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