Austin Market Cooling Down - Lowest home sales (Round Rock, Cedar Park: housing, rent)

[2austin]

I recently posted on Alta Vista off of 620 in Lakeway. One of their model homes sold for $150k less than the asking price of $780K. Lakeway has an oversupply of new homes so prices are softening.

[blincbo]

cnn business news announced dell's plan to lay off 900 employees from its manufacturing plant in austin. i guess, it would also affect r/e somehow in next few month?

[scongress1234]

Originally Posted by blincbo

cnn business news announced dell's plan to lay off 900 employees from its manufacturing plant in austin. i guess, it would also affect r/e somehow in next few month?

Not unless its a harbinger of more to come. 900 isolated laid-off people won't have a HUGE impact, but if its an indication of more bloodletting at Dell, or in the tech industry in general, obviously not only Austin real estate will be affected, but the general Austin economy as well. If the economy slows, which has happened before, in 2001, the influx of new arrivals would slow, and, presuming a percentage of the same would purchase houses, real estate
would slow in its wake. So, the answer is, if the Dell factory layoff is a one-off incident, then it will have an impact, but isolated, and momentary. If, again, it is a harbinger of more to come with more firms, then Austin, and its'
RE market, could have a problem.

[HappyTexan]

The Dell layoff made the news because of the large number of layoffs..it's actually closing the site on Palmer. Others don't make the news because the numbers are so small..50-100 here and there. It's happening..I work in the industry so you hear about it.

[atlanta hope]

I've been looking at job listings for a couple of years and I haven't seen much that I can apply for lately... it does seem like things are a bit slower.

[austin-steve]

Originally Posted by HappyTexan

The Dell layoff made the news because of the large number of layoffs..it's actually closing the site on Palmer. Others don't make the news because the numbers are so small..50-100 here and there. It's happening..I work in the industry so you hear about it.

Those are mostly factory workers, not a large batch of home owners.

When the white collar salaried workers were laid off after the tech bust, that definitely hurt the Round Rock real estate market. These won't really matter that much because those workers won't be putting homes on the market and moving away from Austin like they did back then.

Steve

[scongress1234]

Originally Posted by austin-steve

Those are mostly factory workers, not a large batch of home owners.

When the white collar salaried workers were laid off after the tech bust, that definitely hurt the Round Rock real estate market. These won't really matter that much because those workers won't be putting homes on the market and moving away from Austin like they did back then.

Steve

Steve, I think you'd really need some numbers per the % of homeowners laid-off from the Austin plant. Let's not forget that RE is Austin is quite affordable, and many workers may have had no prob buying a house a few years back. I'm sure that Dell was paying relatively decent wages. Let's not forget that they don't pay a bunch for much of the white collar jobs either, and most of those folks own houses. As I said, if its a one-off thing, than it doesn't really matter, as it will be absorbed and forgotten. If it is a harbinger, there could be far larger problems in store. The kicker is how the tech market handles the recession. It's really hard to say how it will play out. Tech is wedded to the entire economy in every way; financial, retail, construction, general infrastructure, and so on. I still think its hard to say if a tech fallout will happen, and there is just as much chance it will as that it won't. given the sorry state of the rest of the economy and financial markets, and people reining in their spending.

[Mike78613]

Keep your eyes open. Dell just laid-off another 800 employees in the Round Rock area, so more homes I am sure will be on the market. Only thing I would suggest for people looking for homes is find a used one, please don't saturate the market by getting a new one. It really does not help the problems here. Look what happened in the Denver area.

It will stink if Austin homes will decline just like in Denver

[Mike78613]

Dealing in residential real estate in Austin? You're better off than you would be elsewhere around the country, according to a state economist.

Texas continues to buck the trend of declining home sales that's sweeping the nation, aided by factors from net population growth to affordability, says Mark Dotzour, chief economist at the Real Estate Center at Texas A&M University.

Those Aggies; I swear. Anything to make pun of Austin. LOL!1

[austin-steve]

At the risk of sounding like one of those "puff and fluff" Realtors, we really are in pretty good shape here in Austin. Despite some layoffs, job growth is strong, unemployment is low, and homes are still very affordable, it's a highly desiearble place to relocate a business to and for people who just want Austin's lifestyle.

I closed another one yesterday for a buyer from Chicago. He could have relocated to anywhere in the West/SW US, and after exploring all the options, including San Francisco, Phoenix, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Denver, Seattle, Portland, and others, he told me Austin was a very easy choice. He and his fiancee are extremely happy to be here.

We hear that story a lot from many different buyers. It's not going to change any time soon. Austin is well positioned, even if things slow, to ride this out much better than most other cities.

And don't forget we still have pockets and areas in Austin that are red hot sellers markets.

Steve