Average price up about $100 a month since 2005.

By Shonda Novak and M.B. Taboada
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Wednesday, January 09, 2008

Prices for apartment rentals in Austin are on the rise as occupancy rates increase, according to Capitol Market Research.

One-bedroom apartments have increased to an average of $714 a month, about $100 more than they cost two years ago. Two-bedroom, two-bath units are up to $938, also about $100 more than two years ago, according to the Austin-based real estate consulting firm that tracks the market.

The occupancy rate for 2007 rose to 96.6 percent, up from 94.4 percent two years ago.

“Everyone is upping their rents like crazy,” said Susan Albertson, a broker with Austin City Locators.

Albertson said the market is seeing a mix of newcomers and renters who are shopping around after their rents were raised. Also, more people have moved into the apartment market because of tighter credit standards for getting mortgages.

“There are people who are not able to pay their mortgage, and we’re starting to see a lot of people who aren’t buying a home,” Albertson said.  >>> Click for cull article

Tags: buyers, money, sellers by Aria
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By Clayton Stromberger
SPECIAL TO THE AMERICAN-STATESMAN
Sunday, January 06, 2008

From his low-slung, A.D. Stenger-designed 1953 house on a gentle rise just west of Bluebonnet Lane, up the hill from Zilker Park, musician and artist Chuck Voelter can often hear two sounds echoing faintly through the neighborhood. When he hears them, Voelter cocks his head and listens a bit, and wonders. Sometimes, so does his 1-year-old son, Rhett.

One sound is the amplified jangle of live music, coming from somewhere — the park, Maria’s Taco XPress or Bird’s Barbershop on South Lamar Boulevard. The other is a sound he often heard growing up as a kid in Temple — the long, mournful whistle of a passing freight engine on its way to somewhere else.

You can find a bit of Hank Williams in both sounds.

It is this confluence of hip, freewheeling Austin and the traces of a slower, more rural era that gives the Zilker neighborhood its character. Less funky than Bouldin Creek to the east, but hipper than Barton Hills to the west, Zilker is uniquely situated in the 78704 universe of South Austin.  >>> Click for full article

Tags: buyers, neighborhoods, sellers by Aria
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Report shows 19.7 decline in fourth quarter

By M.B. Taboada
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Thursday, January 03, 2008

Builders are pulling back further in the Austin area as the national housing market continues to languish.

Starts for new homes declined 19.7 percent in the fourth quarter, according to the latest analysis from Residential Strategies Inc., which tracks and predicts real estate trends. And the number of closings dropped 14.1 percent, from 3,701 to 3,180.

The lagging fourth quarter brought new home starts for the year to 13,748, down nearly 20 percent compared with 2006. Starts for new homes haven’t been this low since 2004.

Home starts probably will bottom out in 2008, said Mark Sprague, Austin partner for Residential Strategies. “What’s happening is that the rest of the national market is pulling us down,” Sprague said.  >>> Click for full article

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