[youtube = http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FWcxxbMI8Ks]
Brazos Place is officially sold out. Today, in less than 90 minutes, 19 downtown Austin residences were sold at an average discount of 29% from asking price. The best deal of the day was probably the penthouse: 2745 feet purchased for $967,200, originally priced at $1,575,000. The unit that was being advertised with a starting bid of $80,000 sold for $168,480 (OLP was $199,900). I was able to take video of that particular auction and you can watch it above.
Below is a brief summary and you can download the complete results here (pdf).
Units sold: 19
Square feet: 23,088
Avg sale price per foot: $281.80
Avg discount from OLP: 29%
-Jude
http://www.bizjournals.com/austin/stories/2009/05/11/daily51.html?surround=lfn
Austin’s relative affordability and number of job opportunities has helped it rank first on Forbes.com’s list of the nation’s best bargain cities.
Auction buyers are always looking for something less than market value, so no surprises here. These were the last 19 units so it’s not as if the end is nigh. Again, just try to find a newly constructed home on a (postage-stamp sized) lot near near downtown for the same avg. price per SF. As the fixer-upper housing stock continues to deteriorate, it becomes less attractive to DINKs and empty-nesters.
@CCC:
15-30% would seem to be the clearing discount for new construction developers to sell units in bulk, rapidly.
Now, after the Brazos Place auction, the capped inventory of “attainable” condos in downtown Austin [that are less than $300/ft] is becoming salient as there are no new buildings being constructed for those buyers.
Pat and Jude,
Does this, indeed, bode well for the condo market? By resorting to an auction to finally sell off remaining units while taking an average 29% haircut, has the auction bolstered the condo market downtown? Or has it provided compelling proof that current condo prices are too high in this market?
Hey, great video. I was actually one of the bidders on this unit! Most of the other units were quickly raised out of my price range so I didn’t even get a chance to raise my hand but this is a nice video to show to my friends.
This bodes well for the downtown condo market. No fire sales or dime-to-a-dollar deals, just sensible purchases. Where’s all the Chicken Littles today?
Buying a condo is pretty easy. Making it cash flow is not. Lots of potential knife catchers purchasing condos at inflated prices.
Thanks for the prompt write up! I was searching for the auction results. I enjoyed watching the $168,480 condo – going once, twice, SOLD – in 3 minutes…