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2011 Recap of Downtown Austin Condo Sales

January 20, 2012 By 6 Comments
downtown austin condo sales - 2011 prices trailing 12 months

Challenged to articulate a narrative around 2011 downtown Austin real estate data, I’ve been keeping this post under wraps for a couple of weeks.  Data is useful to me and my clients, but these numbers have little meaning without context and history.

How do I convey that the best news is no news at all?

Stability in the downtown condo market continues to be the story. Stability attracts the timid buyers from the sidelines. Those additional buyers embolden timid sellers to enter the market.

What forces are creating stability downtown? Low interest rates, shrinking inventory, and multi-generational demand for urban lifestyle. We can see the outcome of stability in the chart below: the gradually upward sloping trend line.

downtown austin condos - 10 years of resale data

downtown austin condos - 10 years of resale data

In 2011, if you were a seller in downtown Austin, then you did slightly better than sellers in 2010.  If you were a buyer in downtown Austin in 2011, then you were more focused on lifestyle and proximity, rather than the post-bust discount pricing found in 2008-2009.

Highlights

Looking back on the downtown Austin condo market in 2011, we see $77,688,824 in total resales over 200 resale transactions.  Combined with an estimated $120,000,000 in downtown new construction sales from another 200 transactions, 2011 reflects a healthy real estate market, gradually trending up. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Austin Data & Statistics, DAB Stats, data, statistics, downtown austin, Downtown Austin lofts, condos, apartments, Real Estate

Crossing The Chasm: A Perspective On New Construction

September 13, 2011 By 11 Comments
Crossing-The-Chasm-Adoption-Lifecycle

Because I’m a real estate geek, I’m continuously looking at sales metrics, updating my databases, and endeavoring to uncover useful information.  In this post, I’m attempting two things: 1) offer some perspective on sales in downtown Austin’s high profile buildings, and 2) predict when those buildings will approach being completely sold.  If you just want the data then skip to the end.

One of my mentors shared with me an insight: the first buyers are innovators - early adopters that fill up the bandwagon and help throttle the acceptance of something new.  It applies to new real estate development, as much as it does to new technologies.

Now that the cranes are long gone, where are the new construction projects in their sales cycles? [Read more...]

Filed Under: austin condos, Austin Data & Statistics, DAB Stats, data, statistics, downtown austin

Downtown Austin Condo Sales Remain Strong In May

June 7, 2011 By Leave a Comment
downtown austin condo closings may

For the first time since the bubble burst, the average price per square foot of a downtown Austin condo has increased four months in a row. Last month, downtown Austin closed 62 condos* with 29 more pending!

Highlights

In May, we counted 41 closings of new-construction condos from the Four Seasons Residences, W Hotel, Austonian, Spring Condos, and Barton Place.  The W takes the cake with 15 closings in May.

On the other hand, the number of resales comes in at 21 units closed – a strong showing – averaging a price of $334 per square foot. We also count 29 resales pending as of May 31st!  So, we can expect next month’s closing count to be similarly strong.

[Read more...]

Filed Under: austin condos, Austin Data & Statistics, DAB Stats, data, statistics, downtown austin, Downtown Austin lofts, condos, apartments

Is Austin Bicycle Theft On The Rise?

May 30, 2011 By 3 Comments
austin-stolen-bike

There were more bike thefts reported in the heart of downtown Austin during the first five months of 2011, compared to 2010, according to city police records I compiled. However, reports are down in the South Congress area.

I know this because I decided to do my best Council Member Chris Riley impression — sans silver hair — and work on reducing my car usage in favor of pedal power to commute to the Capitol area. I bought a bike over the weekend, did some research and promptly shelled out another $200 for accessories, aimed mostly at anti-theft.

[Read more...]

Filed Under: Austin Data & Statistics, austin lifestyle, austin recreation, austin traffic, austin transit, city council, crime, data, statistics, downtown austin, life in austin, rumors, gossip Tagged With: ,

Downtown Austin Condo Transaction Report For April (And March, Sort Of)

May 9, 2011 By Leave a Comment
march data

In April, I didn’t publish a transaction summary covering March’s downtown deals.

I had assembled all the info, drafted the post, and it was ready to publish.  Some of you noticed that I never got around to posting it, and I’m sorry for not getting it out there (here’s to you John K.).

Jude, why u no post March data?

First and fortunately, I was at the tipping point of having more business than I could handle.  Springtime is always busy for me.  Combine that with opening the RE/MAX Downtown Austin office and I got distracted, operating on little sleep.

Secondly, I couldn’t come up with a headline for March!  March’s data didn’t seem to have a compelling story.  March’s data seemed too predictable.  That spooked me – what was I going to write about?  DAB readers have built up filters to exaggerated headlines, but readers do expect a story.  You should expect some insight.  What’s the story?

[Read more...]

Filed Under: austin condos, Austin Data & Statistics, austin lofts, austin towers and high rises, DAB Stats, data, statistics, downtown austin, Downtown Austin lofts, condos, apartments

Downtown Austin: Census Data In Perspective

April 12, 2011 By 4 Comments
2010 downtown austin census blocks

Anyone who knows what a construction crane looks like knows that downtown Austin experienced phenomenal growth between 2000 and 2010. The 2010 Census confirms what we could see: Census tract 11 (which includes the CBD and Rainey Street) more than doubled in population, from 2,386 to 5,512. And that excludes dense developments that most would consider part of “downtown,” including Gables Park Plaza, the Monarch, Spring and Nokonah, all within Census tract 12. Add these and Downtown’s growth was even more impressive. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Austin Data & Statistics, DAB Stats, data, statistics, Downtown Austin lofts, condos, apartments, Real Estate Tagged With:

Downtown Austin Condo Sales Show Growth

March 7, 2011 By Leave a Comment
chart-upward

Downtown Austin condo sales continue to reflect strong fundamentals as resale data from February shows increases year-to-year, and from month-to-month.

I’m continuing to tinker with some new statistics, including the effect of the average age of square footage sold. Values of downtown Austin condos tend to be highly correlated with age. This “age/area” metric is useful when comparing monthly data, and I can quickly tell if the data set is skewed towards older or new buildings.  In February, the [Read more...]

Filed Under: DAB Stats, data, statistics, downtown austin, Downtown Austin lofts, condos, apartments

W Hotel Residences Begins Closings In January As Downtown Austin Condo Sales Rise Higher

February 8, 2011 By 5 Comments
w austin residences grand opening downtown austin blog

The most significant downtown Austin condo news from January must be the first closings at the W Hotel Residences (aka Block 21 Residences).  The W is the last of the luxury high rises to open, and these closings represent a significant milestone for the downtown Austin building boom.  Naturally, the proud new owners are taking possession from the lower floors going up.  Occupancy is permitted up to the 24th floor, currently.  Prices at the W Hotel Residences are firmly placed into our “top-tier” category with starting prices at [Read more...]

Filed Under: Austin Data & Statistics, austin towers and high rises, DAB Stats, data, statistics, downtown austin

Downtown Austin Condo Prices On The Rise in December

January 7, 2011 By Leave a Comment
downtown austin condo stats december 2010

1) Price Per Foot, and 2) Number of Transactions (monthly, Jan-Dec 2010)

The downtown Austin loft & condo market hit many milestones this year: 1) Austonian opened 2) Four Seasons opened 3) W Hotel residences approached completion.  Downtown hosted over $60MM in resale transactions during the year.  Moreover, to the surprise or chagrin of some, buyers are flocking to the top-tier buildings.  We close out 2010 with 38 closed transactions in the month of December – 18 resale, and 20 direct to developer.

The above chart shows downtown austin condo resale trends based on monthly data from 2010.  Direct to developer transactions are not shown on the chart.  The most salient trend we can glean from this data is the average sales price hovering steadily ~$300 per square foot.

Details after the jump… [Read more...]

Filed Under: austin condos, Austin Data & Statistics, austin towers and high rises, DAB Stats, data, statistics, downtown austin, Downtown Austin lofts, condos, apartments, Downtown Austin lofts, condos, apartments

Downtown Austin Condo Prices Drop in November

December 6, 2010 By 1 Comment
downtown austin condo trends nov 2010

downtown austin condo trends nov 2010

Judging by the average numbers, November was a rough month for resales of downtown Austin condos.  Conversely, luxury condos continue to post strong numbers for the second month in a row.  Back in October, I was surprised by the large number of closings we observed in the downtown Austin’s top-tier condo buildings.  The ABJ followed up with a story saying “Verdict’s in: Austin condos did work.”

Top-tier (new buildings)
While the high-end market continues to show good numbers, it’s not clear to me how many of these closings are from original reservations, rather than new purchase contracts (within the past 120 days).

-Four Seasons shows 49 closed units, six closed in November.

-Austonian shows 32 closed units, two closed in November.

-Spring shows ~165-170 closed units closed, nine closed in November.  It should be noted that these were, in fact, all new contracts.

Resales
Using data available on Nov 30th, 11 downtown austin condos closed at an average $252 per square foot.  That’s the lowest average price since August of 2009, and is 19.5% lower than the average resale price compared to November of last year.  Compared to downtown condo sales in October, prices were down 14%.  Also interesting, average days-on-market (DOM) was 118 days – not surprising to see closing prices averaging 12% less than original asking prices.

November Downtown Austin Condo Sales

AddressBuildingBedroomsSquare FeetSold Price
1800 Lavaca St #608Greenwood Towers2857Call
507 Sabine St #305The Sabine21462Call
505 W 7th St #318Posada del Rey21049Call
901 W 9th St #311The Nokonah1849Call
360 Nueces St #1001360 Condos1801Call
555 E 5th St #9235 Fifty Five (555)11195Call
1705 Pearl St31879Call
1801 Lavaca St #14MCambridge Towers2912Call
411 Brazos St #224Brazos Lofts11313Call
800 W 5th St #505Austin City Lofts21482Call
80 Red River St #307Villas on Town Lake1675Call
Data assembled from Austin MLS for November sales of downtown Austin condos
Filed Under: austin condos, austin lofts, austin towers and high rises, DAB Stats, data, statistics, downtown austin, Downtown Austin lofts, condos, apartments Tagged With: , ,
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