Appreciation in SW Austin with AMD moving in? (Howe: houses, buyers)

[tashina]

Just wondering what you think of appreciation potential in the SW Austin Area with AMD moving in next year?

*LINK* (broken link)

When the move starts in January, AMD will have a single campus to house employees who now work at its Southeast Austin offices or several sites across the city. By the time the move is complete in April, the 860,000-square-foot campus will house about 2,500 workers, with room for another 450.

I have no idea what price level the employees would be looking for, but it seems like that many people coming at once to a new area would impact the market in some way.

[atxcio]

I think AMD is going through some hard times -- that's pretty much what the article is about. If for some reason the SW campus doesn't get completed (which is possibility), that would be bad. Also, if the poor performance causes AMD's CEO to step down, there is no guarantee AMD will stick around. I was under the impression that the Austin presence and new campus are pretty much driven by the CEO...

However, I think what will impact SW Austin property values more than AMD is the growth of the S Congress area and Downtown. SW Austin hasn't been built out so much as NW -- so the houses are still pretty close-in, especially to people wanting to go eat/shop/drink on S Congress. So, as the desirable destinations move more downtown and south of the river, the proximity of SW Austin will become more attractive to buyers.