Central Austin Realty Bits

Feel the influence of Spanish architecture and design in this one of a kind Austin Luxury Home for sale.  Room to spread out with 5 living areas including open kitchen/great room, formals, gameroom, media, office and separate studio for gym, office or quarters.  This Austin custom home is recently refreshed with gleaming hardwood floors, fresh paint, new carpet and more and lends itself to more casual living. Soaring ceilings, charming quarry tile floors, separate butler pantry, 2 covered outdoor living areas and 3 real wood burning fireplaces.  Abundant built ins and storage throughout.  Exceptional master with separate lounge room and 2 full baths.

Nestled on a deep wooded lot, one block from West Enfield Park and one block to the hike and bike trail that leads directly to Lady Bird Lake.  5 minutes from Downtown Austin and UT.  Other Austin luxury homes surround this delightful residence in this handy West Austin neighborhood.

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Jeff Harris, Broker. Call me anytime at 512-917-8142

Many Austin home buyers are paying cash these days.  Recent articles in the LA Times and Miami Herald are reporting that buyers in those markets are paying cash about 30% of the time--much higher than one would traditionally find--and the luxury home buyer is paying cash even more often. Perhaps it is that loans are harder to get, but it may be that there are still lots of folks flush with cash who want to park it somewhere and are finding great bargains in real estate.

I decided to see if the cash trend is prevalent in Austin.  Looking at Austin, plus all of Travis and urban Williamson County, I discovered that 25% of all home and condo sales were for cash in 2010.  Looking at homes that sold over $750,000, 37% of sales were cash.  46% of $1 million + home buyers paid cash in greater Austin.  Those trends don't mirror my personal experience but they are the stats direct from MLS in 2010.  Looking at closed sales so far ths year in 2011, the trend is intact and shows an even greater percentage of Austin cash sales.

There are thousands of cash buyers in Austin, Texas.  At least 1 in 4 buyers don't have to bother with the hassle of today's lending environment, and half of the Austin luxury home buyers are bypassing the bank too--that should keep the market humming along regardless of appraisers and conservative lending guidelines.

Search all Austin homes for sale here:   http://www.myaustinhousehunt.com/

The Austin TX luxury home market was active in 2010.  In Travis County, sales of homes priced over $1 million increased 5% vs. 2009.  Just under 200 Austin luxury homes were sold in 2010 while the average size of homes sold decreased slightly, as did the time it took to sell a luxury home.  On average, high end properties spent 130 days on the market.  

Price per square foot paid was up 2% vs 2009 but is down 5% when compared to 2008 and down 10% when compared to 2007.  Although sales were up 5% in 2010 vs. 2009, the number of $1 million + properties sold in Austin/ Travis County were 35% lower than in 2007.  I think that 35% number tells the bigger story.  Compared to 3 years ago, sales have dropped and so have prices for luxury homes.  By no means has the bottom fallen out as is the story in some US cities, but clearly there are fewer sales, with lower prices.  

Looking back over the past 5 years, 2007 was the peak in prices and sales numbers for Austin luxury homes. The number of 2010 sales looks like 2005, while the prices look more like 2006.  Every neighborhood has its own story to tell and these figures are a broad look at single family home sales in Central and West Austin, Westlake Hills and Western Travis County.

If you are thinking of buying or selling an Austin luxury home, contact me or visit www.trueaustinluxury.com for a more detailed market report or to search Austin luxury homes for sale.

Jeff Harris

Broker

jeff@trueaustinhomes.com