Is the market good for buyers?

[ssanto]

Hi,

I keep hearing in the news almost every day how the real estate market is doing bad. It all sounds really bad for sellers.

What I don't hear anything about is how the current state of the market is affecting buyers.

Since there are a lot of houses on the market, shouldn't the prices go down?

I live in Austin, TX and my wife and I priced homes and land about a year and a half ago. We just started looking again and the prices seem to be the same as they were back then.

Would you expect prices to go down? Would you think there is more room to bargain the price?


Thanks,
Sal

[Malok]

Some markets are getting hit pretty hard by this correction. I read a pretty horrific forecast for Miami the other day as an example. Others are holding steady, and some see poised for growth.


From what I've read - Austin is one of the markets that is on the verge of some growth.

You would probably be better served speaking to some of the premier real estate agents in that area and get their opinion, as I can't base it on anything other than second hand information that I've read and been told by agents down there.

[wikkideclipse]

Midsized and large homes—which include the U.S. average 1,500 square-foot residence— showed the steepest declines among single-family residences, with values down 3.1% and 2.8% year-over-year, respectively. Small homes declined just one percent in the same period. According to Zillow, in this analysis, large single-family homes are defined as those with more than 1,900 square feet, midsized homes are 1,200-1,900 square feet, and a small home is defined as less than 1,200 square feet.

Similarly, condo values dropped 5.2% year-over-year, with a Zindex home value indicator of $238,721. Condo owners in parts of Florida and California’s Central Valley experienced the sharpest drops – between 10 and 14% compared to Q2 2006.

The U.S. real estate market still appears quite anemic, at best, with many markets still doing poorly, especially those in South Florida and Southern California,” said Stan Humphries, Zillow’s vice president of data and analytics. “The one ray of hope this period is that we’ve not seen another quarter-over-quarter decline as we’ve experienced for the past two quarters. The significantly poorer performance of condos and larger single-family homes suggests that prices for these housing sectors are still not in accord with current demand.

[REbuyersgroup]

Austin is doing pretty well over all. We are getting some investors into the market there on the pre-sales of projects in anticipation of continued growth.

Prices seem to be pretty steady and have not seen the quick run up that other areas of the country had.

Slow steady growth is nice. We noticed that there is a demand for homes that are built and ready for delivery, in new ranches.

My last visit was to Steiner Ranch. We found a really nice Taylor Woodrow home with great view of Lake Austin for $604,000. Awesome deal! In Florida that would be almost a Mill.

If you are a buyer/end user, don't wait. Remember, what you spend in rent could be going toward equity. So, no matter when you buy, if you are buying for long term, you will always do well. Look at history. Property values go up.., down.., up.., up.., down.... etc.

Get off the couch and buy a nice house you will enjoy calling HOME!

[annemayhugh]

Here in Louisville we have not seen a big decline in actual number of home sales or average sales prices, but what we are seeing are more incentives being offered- particularly the higher end builders. I've seen concessions that translate to 10-15% reductions, but don't actually show up in the final sales price. This means that qualified buyers are getting more for the money right now. The key is to negotiate and see how willing the sellers are there. It depends somewhat on your price range, remember, jumbo loans by nature are usually non conforming so that higher end market may start to slow as the low down loans get harder to find. Any time a segment of the market slows, if there is excess inventory, the prices should fall. Good luck!