Austin TX market??

Question

hi everyone! I'm currently taking online classes to be a real estate agent in Austin TX and wanted to see if there are anybody on here that can give me a bit of an update on the market. From what I read, Texas in general had a lot of growth the past 5 years.

1. How is the selling market?

2. How about rentals? Single family or multi-units better?

3. What regions are the hottest?

Thanks everyone!

1. How is the selling market?

2. How about rentals? Single family or multi-units better?

3. What regions are the hottest?

Thanks everyone!

Shital Thakkar · Answer

Yes, @Han Chang

All 4 metro of Texas going through same... i feel same in Dallas.

Lot of Institution and Foreign money flowing in Real Estate.. only problem is not sure this will end soon or will continue like Canada and Australia... keep going up for 15 years..!!

Han Chang · Answer

I just moved to Austin ~6 months ago and have been on the market for 10 (focusing on multifamily) and can vouch that multifamily inventory is sparse and gets picked up very quickly.

Also, listing prices vary wildly - anything on the market for more than two weeks is either a very bad deal price-wise or leaves a lot to be desired (or both!). Anything that's reasonable usually flies off the shelf within a month. If you get a listing, I highly recommend listing a lower price to attract attention and multiple bidders, as out of the 6 offers I've put in so far, 5/6 were multiple offer scenario and all of them went way above asking (to the tune of $25-30k). The 1/6 I actually backed out of because the place needed a lot more work than expected and it's still sitting on the market since the price is too high.

I'm not too familiar with SFH but it looks healthy as well. From an investor's standpoint, the rents haven't caught up to housing prices yet (at least in the more desirable neighborhoods) so virtually nothing cash flows. Seems like most people are buying to either occupy or speculating on appreciation.

David Sray · Answer

Hi Justin,

I'm local and actually trying to get into these types of units myself, but it's a challenge. Prices have been climbing lots and it is hot out here. You look at what a property was tax assessed last year in they are being listed at least 20 - 30k or more higher now. Recently put in a full-priced offer on a fourplex outside of Austin, and we lost out because there were 5 other offers and we wanted to be conservative with the numbers. I'm not sure how some of these people are making money on rents with how much even duplexes are going, but Linda did point out rents are rising. Hard for me to bank on the rent maybe going up at this point in order to justify an expensive multi-family, but I'm not giving up!

Justin Lee · Answer

@lindaosborn

Hi Linda! yes I am moving next month. Are the prices of the homes affecting sales in anyway? Do you think Austin is in a bubble? Also, where do you own multi-units? From what I read, Austin has more community or village type of rentals. I would like to own duplexes or triplexes

Linda Osborn · Answer

Hi Justin. If you are taking classes for your Texas real estate license, are you planning to move to Austin in the near future?

With regard to your questions:

Austin is still a strong seller's and landlord's market.

As far as selling....roughly 2 months of inventory for SFRs in Austin proper, and the same for many of the directly surrounding areas. I haven't seen any specifics as to the strength of the multi-family (2-4 units) market, but based on my observations of how long properties sit on the market, sales are strong there as well, especially for properties with price tags of under $500K.

Similar for landlords. Rent prices continue to rise as home prices continue to rise, with rent increases several months behind the sales prices, but rising quickly. Prices are rising such that low end tenants seem to be getting priced out of the market. We manage both single family and multi-family (up to 4 units), with no issues getting any of them rented, usually within 14 days.

Williamson County and Austin proper are the hottest with 1.9 months of inventory based on Austin Board of Realtors May statistics. Travis County overall is at 2.4 months of inventory, with Hays County at 3.0 months of inventory. All this can be found at http://www.abor.com/StatsMay16/.