San Antonio Real Estate Market Report June 2008
July 25, 2008
June 2008 MLS Report |
||
| Sales | Sales Year Ago | % Change Year Ago |
| 2,043 | 2,355 | -13% |
| Average Price | Avg Price Year Ago | % Change Year Ago |
| $197,903 | $195,888 | 1% |
| Median Price | Med Price Year Ago | % Change Year Ago |
| $160,600 | $159,700 | 1% |
| Price Per Sq Ft | Price Per Sq Ft Year Ago | % Change Year Ago |
| $91 | $84 | 8% |
| Days On Market (DOM) | DOM Year Ago | % Change Year Ago |
| 82 | 68 | 21% |
| New Listings | Active Listings | Pending Sales |
| 3,602 | 13,178 | 1,686 |
| 7.2 Months of Inventory | ||
Source: SABOR
7 Things Every Home Buyer Should Know
July 24, 2008
1. 6 months ago is ancient history. What your neighbor sold his house for 6 months ago doesn’t matter. What the seller was asking for the house 6 months ago doesn’t matter. What matters is what the market will support today.
2. Don’t worry so much about what you paid for your house. Instead, look at the difference between what you can expect to sell your house for and what it’s going to cost you to buy the new one that you want. I expect you’ll find that those are much more important numbers (unless you end up without any equity in which case you don’t sell).
3. Now is not the time for do-it-yourselfers. When the inventory levels are, depending on property type and area, any where from twice as much as is healthy (single family homes near my hometown) to 750% as much inventory as there should be (condos in Florida from what I’ve heard), you need to find a professional to help you navigate the markets and get your house noticed. I’m not, frankly, just talking about calling the Realtor who sold the house up the street. I’m talking about calling a high caliber professional who knows what it takes and can really give your house the attention that it needs. Realtors who have the knowledge and talent to help you navigate through this market and make wise decisions.
4. Any interest rate that starts with a 6 is a good number. Check out the attached chart. From 1971 to 1998, we did not see any mortgage rates that started with a 6. Frankly, we’ve gotten spoiled in an era of cheap credit and we need to keep things in perspective.
5. There is a Tangible Difference in working with a true mortgage professional. I’m not talking about the difference between a mortgage broker or a mortgage lender at a bank. I’m talking about the difference between someone who can help you navigate the changing environment that we’re in. Read The Tangible Difference and you’ll see what I mean.
6. Don’t buy a house today if you aren’t going to stay there at least 7 years. That’s right, a mortgage lender is telling you that if you don’t have at least a 7 year time frame in mind, you shouldn’t buy a house right now. Why? It’s all about the math. If the market drops another 5% over the next year and then stays the same for two years, it’s going to take 7 years for you to recoup the 5% loss and then build up enough to pay the 6% Realtor’s fees when you sell and make a little profit too. Long term, the value of real estate investments is very solid, but this market has spread things out a bit longer. Note: Texas Real Estate Markets have continue to appreciate and are not losing value like markets in California, Florida, Michigan, etc.
7. It really is a good time to buy a house. If you go into the transaction with the right mindset (long term investment), with a talented group of professionals (Realtor, lender, inspector and accountant) backing you up, and you remain analytical about the financials and keep the emotions from forcing decisions, I firmly believe that you’ll find yourself very glad that you made the move you made. Is it the right time for everyone to buy and sell? Nope, but I have the feeling that there are a lot of people sitting on the sidelines because they are scared of what the mainstream media has done to the portrayal of the markets and are missing out on some great opportunities to move forward and upward.
Written by Tom Vanderwell over at BloodHoundBlog.
Texas Ranked Top Economy In Nation by CNBC
July 19, 2008
Texas is America’s Top State for Business according to the results of a CNBC study that scored each state on 40 different measures of competitiveness. Gov. Perry joined CNBC’s “Closing Bell with Maria Bartiromo” in Washington, D.C. this afternoon for the announcement.
“We live in a world that moves faster than at any time in history,” Gov. Perry said. “Knowledge and capital are rapidly being deployed to parts of the world where the right combination of talent, technology, business climate, infrastructure and markets converge. I believe Texas is that place, now more than ever.”
CNBC’s ranking adds to the growing list of accomplishments and accolades for Texas’ business climate. The Lone Star State is now home to more Fortune 500 companies than any other state in the nation, and was recently named the “Best State to Do Business” by CEO Magazine for the third year in a row.
In the past five years, Texas has created 1.2 million net new jobs. In the last year alone, more than half of all jobs created in the United States were in Texas.
“There is simply no better place to live, work, grow a business and raise a family than the great State of Texas,” said Gov. Perry. “We have the best business climate in the country and remain globally competitive thanks to our reasonable regulations, low taxes, fair legal environment, educated workforce and an unparalleled quality of life.”
CNBC scored each state using publicly available data to determine the rankings. States received points based on ten broad categories including: cost of doing business, workforce, economy, education, quality of life, technology and innovation, transportation, cost of living, business friendliness, and access to capital. Texas’ strongest showings were in economy, technology and innovation, transportation and cost of living.
The complete study is available on www.topstatesforbusiness.cnbc.com.
Which San Antonio Neighborhoods Have The Highest Home Price Appreciation
July 18, 2008
In real estate, all cities have certain hot neighborhoods. These are the communities where homes sell faster and for more money.
In San Antonio, those jewel hoods historically have included Alamo Heights, Monte Vista, King William and Castle Hills.
But new rankings of price appreciation show that some of the old kings have been deposed. So far this year, Stone Oak, the Dominion, Colonies North, Olympia and Olmos Park experienced the highest price appreciation from Jan. 1 to June 24, compared to the same period last year, according to the San Antonio Board of Realtors.
The expected favorite, Alamo Heights, just barely made the top 10 rankings, squeezing in at No. 9 with a 4.1 percent price appreciation. Its higher-priced neighbor — Terrill Hills, with a 14 percent average price drop — was No. 29 on the list of 30 subdivisions. King William didn’t even break the top 30.
What was the appeal for the hot hoods this year? It seems San Antonians are looking for homes near highways, near major retail areas and with plenty of trees.
Travel Demands
Four of the top five fastest-appreciating subdivisions have entrances onto a feeder road for a local highway. Even inner-city Olmos Park benefited from having direct highway access to downtown offices, a popular feature for home buyers, according to real estate experts.
Read the entire article “S.A. hottest hoods” written by Express-News Business Writer Aïssatou Sidimé.
San Antonio Is The Third Fastest-Growing City In America
July 17, 2008
New Orleans, hard-hit by Hurricane Katrina in 2005, was the fastest-growing large city in the nation between July 1, 2006, and July 1, 2007. This follows the city having the largest rate of population loss since 2000.
Houston, another city near the Gulf Coast, led the nation’s cities in numerical increase during the period. New Orleans had the fifth largest numerical growth.
U.S. Census Bureau estimates released today show New Orleans’ population rose by 13.8 percent to 239,124 during the one-year period, to lead all cities with populations of 100,000 or more in rate of increase. New Orleans was followed by Victorville, Calif., whose population climbed 9.5 percent to 107,221. Victorville, in Southern California’s San Bernardino County, saw its population pass the 100,000 mark for the first time in 2007.
Three Texas cities made the fastest-growing top 10: McKinney and Denton (near Dallas, ranking third and 10th, respectively) and Killeen (near Austin, ranking sixth). Rounding out the top 10 were North Las Vegas, Nev. (fourth); Cary, N.C. (near Raleigh, ranking fifth); Port St. Lucie, Fla. (on the Atlantic coast, seventh); Gilbert, Ariz. (near Phoenix, eighth); and Clarksville, Tenn. (on the Kentucky border, ninth).
Houston added 38,932 residents between July 1, 2006, and July 1, 2007, to lead the nation in numerical population increase. Houston, which reached 2.2 million, was joined by three other Texas cities: San Antonio (third) added 32,680 new residents between July 1, 2007, and July 1, 2008, giving the city approximately 1.32 million residents. Fort Worth (fourth) added 29,453 and Austin (eighth) added 17,648 new residents during the same time period. North Carolina also contributed multiple cities to the list: Charlotte (ninth) and Raleigh (10th). Rounding out the top 10 were Phoenix (second), New Orleans (fifth), New York (sixth) and Atlanta (seventh).
New York continued to be the nation’s most populous city, with 8.3 million residents. This was more than twice the population of Los Angeles, which ranked second at 3.8 million. Chicago, with 2.8 million, was third, followed by Houston and Phoenix (1.6 million).
Source: U.S. Census Bureau
HomeVestors Names Top 10 Cities for Real Estate Investing for Second Quarter of 2008
July 16, 2008
HomeVestors® of America, Inc., the company famous for its “We Buy Ugly Houses”® billboards and America’s #1 Home Buyer, has named the top 10 markets for real estate investing in the second quarter of 2008. They are as follows:
1. Dallas, Texas
2. Houston, Texas
3. Atlanta, Georgia
4. Denver, Colorado
5. Fort Worth, Texas
6. San Antonio, Texas
7. Charlotte, South Carolina
8. St. Louis, Missouri
9. Milwaukee, Wisconsin
10. Chicago, Illinois; Kansas City, Kansas (two cities tied for tenth place)
HomeVestors, which has bought more than 35,000 homes in the U.S. over the last 12 years, based the findings on the number of houses bought in each market by the franchise network in the second quarter of 2008.
“This has been a rather ugly year for residential real estate, creating record-setting demand for a trusted national home buyer,” said John Hayes, president and CEO of HomeVestors. “Despite changes in the market, real estate investing continues to grow. From small towns to big cities, people continue to look to HomeVestors to help them out of ugly real estate situations.”
If you are an investor looking into the San Antonio Real Estate Market or are already investing in San Antonio and need assistance finding investment properties register below:
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Forbes Best Cities To Buy A Home
July 15, 2008
Below Forbes explains the process of how they ranked the best cities to buy a home.
We examined the country’s 40 largest metropolitan areas and looked at cities where home prices have appreciated over the last two years. We also measured tightening vacancy rates. These metrics indicate places where buyers are investing in homes in order to live, not just make a quick buck, and where the housing market is relatively solid. We culled our vacancy and home price information from the U.S. Census Bureau and the National Association of Realtors.
The average vacancy rate across the major metro areas was 2.88%, and the average percent appreciation was just .07% over the last two years.
Below are the rankings:
1. Houston, Texas
2. Austin, Texas
3. St. Louis, Mo.
4. Philadelphia, Pa.
5. San Antonio, Texas
“This Latin-flavored American city is growing fast thanks to bustling businesses and a low cost of living. Having major corporations like IBM certainly helps attract residents who bring brains and tax revenue to the city. With a median home price of $150,900, up from $133,900 in 2005, it’s an affordable place relative to the rest of the country. Home to professional basketball’s Spurs, this town is packed–just 2.4% vacancy–and full of Texas pride.”
6. Dallas, Texas
7. Charlotte, N.C.
8. San Francisco, Calif.
9. Jacksonville, Fla.
10. Atlanta, Ga.
As you can see our neighbors Austin, Houston and Dallas ranked in the Top 10 as well. If you don’t know, Texas has some of the most affordable housing in the country. Read the entire article “Best Cities To Buy A Home” written by Maurna Desmond over at Forbes.com
FieldStone Homes Amber Creek Now Open For Sales
July 14, 2008
FieldStone Homes announced it has officially opened the Amber Creek community. The new housing development is the 11th FieldStone community in the San Antonio, Cibolo and New Braunfels area.
“We get very high marks from our customers on their new homes and we’ve won some industry quality awards as well,” FieldStone CEO Fred Wyborski stated. “So we know we’ve put together a very good homebuilding formula that people appreciate and like.”
Five all new models are completed and ready for showing at this new neighborhood. Located in northwest San Antonio, Amber Creek offers easy access to Hwy 90, Loop 410 and State Loop 1604. Amber Creek is also only a short drive to Ingram Park Mall, SeaWorld San Antonio, Lackland Air Force Base and downtown San Antonio.
Amber Creek homes are priced from the $110’s and range in size from 1,550 to 3,204 square feet. But no matter the size, all FielStone Homes are ENERGY STAR rated and constructed with quality craftsmanship and materials. In fact, every home is a “FieldStone Certified Home.”
“We’ve been working very hard over the last several years and our sales continue to climb,” said Mr. Wyborski. “We give customers more choices, more space and a very good overall value for that all-important family purchase.”
For more information or to schedule a visit to view FieldStone Homes at Amber Creek register below:
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New Slate Creek Townhomes at Westover Hills
July 8, 2008
People are busy and want homes that have the look of luxury, yet are convenient and easy to maintain. Homebuyers can now relax at the end of a busy day in a peaceful setting just 15 minutes from downtown San Antonio, in the brand new gated community of Slate Creek at Westover Hills by Birkel Residential Group.
“We offer San Antonio homebuyers the option of affordable luxury and resort-style living in a convenient, low maintenance lifestyle for everyone from the young professional to the empty nester,” said Paul R. Milosevich, president of Birkel Residential Group. “We are proud to offer San Antonio homebuyers an alternative luxury housing option in a convenient location.”
Slate Creek at Westover Hills, a 96-townhome community, is surrounded by the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th holes of the Lakes Golf Course of the Hyatt Hill Country Resort. There will be a ½ mile walking/jogging trail that meanders through the tree-lined setting encircling the entire community. Pocket parks have been planned to create the scene for a peaceful, enclave lifestyle. Amenities including a swimming pool and shaded BBQ cabana complete with a fireplace provide a perfect entertainment area for residents.
Slate Creek townhomes have an architectural appointed exterior using a combination of stone and stucco, private patios with French doors, and maintained lush landscaping. These unique townhomes feature master bedroom up or down floor plans, as well as two- or three-bedroom options, and front or rear entry garages. Many finishes you would expect to be expensive upgrades are standard. Distinguishing details of these extraordinary townhomes include:
- Master bedroom up or down floor plans
- Hardwood flooring
- Elegantly inspired kitchens, square-edge granite countertops accompanied by GE stainless steel appliances
- Luxurious master baths with separate soaking tub and shower, and double vanities
- Spacious walk-in closets
- Wall-to-wall designer carpet in bedrooms; plush cut pile or Berber
- 9′ ceilings
- Open floor plans
- Patio with wooded or golf course views (in select homes)
- Pre-wired for alarm, cable, phone and Internet
- Gas fireplace (in select homes)
- Vaulted ceilings (in select homes)
For more information, on these townhomes starting in the low $200,000s to $400,000s, register below:
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Texas Cities Continue To Show Home Price Appreciation
July 5, 2008
First American CoreLogic, family of companies and a leader in residential mortgage data and analytics for the mortgage industry and Wall Street, today announced the release of its April 2008 LoanPerformance Home Price Index (HPI).
The LoanPerformance HPI provides a comprehensive set of monthly home price indices and median sales prices covering 7,529 ZIP codes, 958 Core Based Statistical Areas (CBSA) and 672 counties located in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. The indices, which are the most comprehensive available in the industry, are reported to clients five weeks after each full month ends.
“Home price declines accelerated in two-thirds of the states already experiencing price declines, while appreciation rates are decelerating in the handful of states with positive appreciation, particularly in Idaho, Utah and Hawaii. Ohio and Minnesota have separated from other Midwestern states and are declining at the fastest rates within the Midwest,” said Mark Fleming, chief economist for First American CoreLogic. “Energy-rich sector states are experiencing the fastest price increases. West Virginia is leading the nation in home price appreciation, followed by Montana, Utah and Texas,” added Fleming.
“Two thirds of all states now show year-over-year real estate declines according to this latest LoanPerformance HPI release,” said Mark Fleming, chief economist for First American CoreLogic. “Although only one-third of CBSAs are depreciating on a nominal basis, on an inflation adjusted basis 90 percent of CBSAs are experiencing real price declines. Only 10 percent of CBSAs are experiencing real inflation-adjusted price increases,” added Fleming.
| 12-Month Change By Top CBSAs (Core Based Statistical Areas) as of April 2008 | ||
| 12-Month | ||
| Change | ||
| Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA | -24.59% | |
| Los Angeles-Long Beach-Glendale, CA | -23.75% | |
| Cape Coral-Fort Myers, FL | -22.87% | |
| Oakland-Fremont-Hayward, CA | -22.29% | |
| Las Vegas-Paradise, NV | -21.01% | |
| San Diego-Carlsbad-San Marcos, CA | -20.54% | |
| Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach-Deerfield Beach, FL | -19.70% | |
| Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale, AZ | -19.26% | |
| Miami-Miami Beach-Kendall, FL | -18.82% | |
| Orlando-Kissimmee, FL | -17.71% | |
| Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL | -15.53% | |
| Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV | -13.22% | |
| San Francisco-San Mateo-Redwood City, CA | -12.91% | |
| Cleveland-Elyria-Mentor, OH | -12.73% | |
| St. Louis, MO-IL | -10.22% | |
| Boston-Quincy, MA | -9.56% | |
| Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI | -9.43% | |
| Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Marietta, GA | -7.65% | |
| Edison-New Brunswick, NJ | -6.94% | |
| Chicago-Naperville-Joliet, IL | -6.75% | |
| New York-White Plains-Wayne, NY-NJ | -6.43% | |
| Denver-Aurora, CO | -5.75% | |
| Seattle-Bellevue-Everett, WA | -4.49% | |
| Portland-Vancouver-Beaverton, OR-WA | -4.34% | |
| Detroit-Livonia-Dearborn, MI | -4.00% | |
| Philadelphia, PA | -2.37% | |
| Raleigh-Cary, NC | -0.49% | |
| Charlotte-Gastonia-Concord, NC-SC | -0.31% | |
| San Antonio, TX | 3.09% | |
| Dallas-Plano-Irving, TX | 3.28% | |
| Salt Lake City, UT | 3.64% | |
| Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown, TX | 4.06% | |
| Austin-Round Rock, TX | 6.14% | |
| Honolulu, HI | 7.15% | |
Source: First American CoreLogic
PMI Mortgage Insurance Co. Rates San Antonio A Low Risk Market
July 4, 2008
The PMI U.S. Market Risk Index is based on data including the OFHEO House Price Index, labor market statistics from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and the PMI Affordability Index, which uses local per capita household income, home price appreciation, and a blended mortgage rate to calculate the local share of mortgage payment to income relative to its baseline year of 1995. The PMI U.S. Market Risk Index scale ranges from one to 100 and translates to a percentage. For example, a score of 50 indicates a 50 percent chance that home prices will be lower in two years.
PMI Summer 2008 PMI U.S. Market Risk Index
As you can see San Antonio is one of only 14 markets rated a low risk in the United States. If your an investor looking to enter the San Antonio Market or maybe an local investor looking for more properties, we can help. Our group specializes in finding then wholesaling single-family and multifamily properties to other investors. Register below if you like to join our Buyers List for investment properties in the San Antonio area.
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Source: PMI Group, Inc
MSN’s Most Affordable Housing Markets
July 3, 2008
MSN has published it’s list of the what it’s calling the nine most affordable housing markets and has San Antonio at No. 5.
1. Wichita, Kan.
2. Omaha, Neb. — Council Bluffs, Iowa
3. Harrisburg-Carlisle, Pa.
4. Madison, Wis.
5. San Antonio
6. Indianapolis
7. Pittsburgh
8. Dallas-Fort Worth
9. Tulsa, Okla.
To develop the 2008 MSN Real Estate Most-Livable Bargain Markets list, we asked Bert Sperling of Sperling’s Best Places to evaluate the most affordable housing markets from the 100 largest U.S. metro areas and pinpoint the nine most livable areas: places where unemployment is low, commute times are short and there’s enough interesting entertainment or recreation to keep most people busy. We defined affordability by the ratio of median income to median home price.
Moving to one of these cities could allow you to “sell your two-bedroom bungalow in Southern California…and buy a house on a number of acres and suddenly have a nest egg you’ve never had before,” Sperling says.
For such a big city — eighth-largest in the nation — San Antonio feels remarkably like a town. It has a strong sense of community and plenty of festivals, shopping, theme parks and other entertainment to keep most families happy. The modern city is home to numerous historic neighborhoods and sites including the Alamo, the Spanish Governor’s Palace and the River Walk, which contains shops and outdoor restaurants along the San Antonio River, just below street level downtown.
Thanks to the current demand for oil, the economy here is booming and there is a mix of neighborhoods catering to just about every taste and income level. The Texas Hill Country, which surrounds the city, provides numerous opportunities for outdoor recreation and tourism.
Cons: The city’s biggest drawback can be summed up in one word: heat. Extreme heat and humidity in the summer can make it hard to enjoy the city’s wealth of cultural and recreational amenities. And crime is higher here than in other cities of the same size.
Source: MSN Real Estate
