Austin area home sales up 5 percent in January; Month marks one year of steady improvement

Feb. 18, 2010 - PRLog -- AUSTIN, Texas – According to the Multiple Listing Service report by the Austin Board of REALTORS®, the volume of Austin area home sales in January 2010 was 884, up five percent from the same month in 2009. The median price of Austin real estate remained stable in the same time period, up one percent to $179,250.

“At this point, we can look back and see that January 2009 was the low point of this cycle. With steady improvement throughout 2009 that continued in January 2010, we can see that we’re one year into the recovery in Austin,” said John Horton, Chairman of the Austin Board of REALTORS®. “What’s most important about this is that it’s the kind of recovery we want: one that is steady, stable and consistent.”

Throughout 2009, the volume of single-family home sales in Austin improved steadily. In the first half the year, the gap in year-over-year sales volume closed consistently, reaching levels similar to 2008 during the summer peak, with the exception of a dip in August. In the fall of 2009, sales volume began outperforming 2008 and surged in October and November, spurred by the original deadline for the first-time homebuyer tax credit. In December 2009, sales volume returned to a modest increase of five percent when compared to December 2008, a growth rate which was maintained in January 2010.

Mr. Horton continued, “We’re already seeing positive signs in sales volume and price appreciation. Those factors, combined with the population growth and additional jobs economists expect for our area in 2010, bode well for the long-term value of Austin real estate.”

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Founded in 1926, the Austin Board of REALTORS® is a non-profit, voluntary organization representing more than 8,000 licensed REALTORS® in Central Texas.