Austin-area home sales headed for fourth annual drop

LOL Prices are not up. Are you kidding. The averages may be up but that's because more expensive homes have started cutting prices and are pulling the averages up. The reason homes aren't selling is that sellers, on the advice of their agents, are pricing above the market. Come on, 3 months to sell? You got the wrong price on it folks. It'll sell in 2 weeks if you price it right.

- Mr. Bubble

Austin-area home sales headed for fourth annual drop

But experts say market expected to improve starting next year.

By Shonda Novak AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Published: 9:39 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 18, 2010
Central Texas is on track for the fourth annual decline in existing home sales, although real estate experts are looking for gradual improvement in 2011.
The Austin Board of Realtors reported Thursday that the 1,221 existing home sales in October were down 31 percent from a year earlier, the fifth month in a row that sales have been below the year-earlier figure.
 

Minus 16% per ABOR in the last 2 years

Homes sales decline in June; listings hit record level

My guess is that the median price went up because more expensive properties sold relative to small ones. Sure would hate to be sellin right now...

-Mr. Bubble

Homes sales decline in June; listings hit record level | Austin American Statesman

By Shonda Novak | Tuesday, July 20, 2010, 11:25 AM

Homes sales fell 4 percent last month compared with June 2009’s volume, but the median sales price was up 4 percent, to $208,750, the Austin Board of Realtors reported today.
However, the number of homes on the market swelled to a record 11,749, a 16 percent increase from a year ago, while the number of sales in the closings pipeline fell by 23 percent, to 1,610.


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Real Listing of Genius Award this Month...

This home in Barton Creek was listed by a realtor for $1 mil 2 years ago. This was back when Zillow would publish Zestimates in Austin. Zillow valued it at 700k or so.

After at least 2 years on the market, it is now listed at 619k. (I still don't think it will sell at that price but it's a lot closer.) So tell me again why Zillow is no good? Tell me again why you realtors don't release sales data to us, the consumers? This seller would have been better off with an algorithm.

2305 Barton Creek Blvd, Austin, TX 78735 MLS# 5152235 - Zillow

-Mr. Bubble

ARED July 15 2010 Video Blog – Pending home sales crash

Even local real estate cheerleader and KLBJ Radio guru John Mcclellan admits pending sales have crashed. Not sure why he thinks lower prices are "bad". They're great for buyers who are looking at buying MUCH more home!

-Mr. Bubble

ARED July 15 2010 Video Blog – Pending home sales crash!

Above is a link to John's blog...

Austin foreclosures up from '09, steady since May - Austin Business Journal

The title should be "Austin Foreclosures Up 98%!". What spin.

-Mr. Bubble

Austin foreclosures up from '09, steady since May - Austin Business Journal

While home foreclosures have jumped dramatically from a year ago in Austin, the numbers remained steady in recent months with about 1,000 homes foreclosed on or in danger of such in June, according to a new report from RealtyTrac Inc.

June statistics

One in every 655 houses foreclosed or was in danger of foreclosing in June, a 98 percent increase from the same month in 2009. While the figure is alarming, it’s only up 6 percent from May. Most real estate experts said foreclosures would start hitting the mark in both commercial and residential real estate starting in late 2009 through most of 2010, and have stressed that overall it’s more important to rely on month-to-month figures because it more accurately reflects market stability.

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Spanish Oaks posted for foreclosure | The Real Deal

I called these jerks to see about viewing property. They sales guy said they had nothing less than a million and that I wasn't qualified to be there since I had only 800k to spend. What an idiot.

-Mr. Bubble

Spanish Oaks posted for foreclosure | The Real Deal- Austin American Statesman

In another high-profile foreclosure, Comerica Bank late Tuesday posted Spanish Oaks, a 911-acre luxury residential and golf course project in Bee Cave, for the Aug. 3 foreclosure auction.

Spanish Oaks’ owners had been talks for some time with Comerica to modify the terms of a $32 million loan to avoid foreclosure. The original loan was $34.4 million, according to the foreclosure filing. The loan negotiations involved the golf course, unsold lots and undeveloped land.

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