ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Mark Strüb has happily called Austin home for 10 whole years. While that doesn’t make him a native, he feels it gives him sufficient rights to the popular Austinite catch-phrase “I remember when…” In addition to talking about the unpaved used car lot that gave way to Whole Foods' World Headquarters, he enjoys Alamo Drafthouse, dining outdoors, shopping and traveling. But nothing brings Mark greater joy than spending quality time with his 5 year old son, Jack, at their home in Hyde Park. Mark has a B.S. in Radio-TV-Film from UT and makes his living helping people buy and sell homes.

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August 15, 2010

BUY BUY AUSTIN!

Austin Region Likely to See Shortage of New Homes with Continued
Population Growth on the Horizon

AUSTIN, TX., July 15, 2010 - The Home Builders Association (HBA) of
Greater Austin held the 2010 Mid- Year Economic Housing Forecast this
morning at the Phillips Event Center. The program was presented by Dr.
Ted C. Jones, PhD, Senior Vice President and Chief Economist for Stewart
Title Guaranty Company. After receiving a Bachelor of Science degree in
Agricultural Economics from Colorado State University, Dr. Jones earned
a PhD in finance with a minor in statistics and a master's degree in
land economics and real estate from Texas A&M University, where he
served as chief economist at the university's Real Estate Center, the
nation's largest publicly funded real estate research group.

According to Dr. Jones, the growth of the regional housing market is
directly tied to the area's ability to create and maintain jobs and
positive consumer confidence. While the US lost 1.37 million jobs since
June 2000, Austin grew 94,700 net new jobs between May 2000 and May
2010. The region has gained 9,900 jobs year-to-date through May 2010
with 1,000 of those jobs gained in May 2010 alone. "Simply stated,
Austin is a job-growing machine," says Dr. Jones.

The population of the Austin Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) is
forecast to grow by roughly 273,000 people every five years; doubling
our current population of approximately 1.7 million by 2035. "The
current rate of new construction of all types of residential dwellings
is just 10,000 per year. This is not even close to keeping up with the
forecast population growth of the region," says Dr. Jones.

Buyers are encouraged to buy now. If interest rates were to tick up just
1%, the price of a home would have to decline by 10% to make up the
difference. Home prices are already on the rise in the greater Austin
region. Expected population growth coupled with the lack of new home
starts that will keep up with the region's growth will likely cause
prices to rise further.

3 comments:

Downtown Austin Real Estate said...

Interesting blog. It would be great if you can provide more details about it. Thanks you.

uberSTRUB.blogspot.com said...

Sure! Here is a link to some additional, more in-depth info about what is going on now and what is expected to happen in Austin.
http://www.recaonline.com
This is directed at the commercial side of things and gives a good glimpse of the (relative) health of our economy and market.
PLEASE email with specific questions about any aspect of Real Estate.
mark@strubresidential.com

Real Estate Title Insurance Lawyers said...

Hi, thanks so much for these tips! My blogs usually do bring readers and responses. One thing I do is engage with the readers. Answer questions in responses and make clarifications where needed. I think they appreciate that I take the time to talk to them.