I found this Forbes article supportive of what I have been saying to you.  I am only including part of it, so here is a link if you wish to read it in its' entirity.

It discusses which cities will and won’t recover fastest and agrees that Texas avoided the housing bubble and that the fact that Clifornia did not, will keep that state lanquishing.

WASHINGTON - The three most important things in real estate: location, location, location. It's true for recovery from a real estate bubble too. Overall, many economists expect the national economy to return to growth later in 2009, perhaps as soon as this summer. But that won't be the case everywhere. While some cities are poised for a quick rebound, others face a slog to recovery that could take years.

Poised for swift recovery are many Texas cities, such as Austin, San Antonio, Dallas and McAllen. These areas did not see the massive real estate bubble that formed in states like California, Nevada and Florida. The economy is diverse, with heavy growth coming from education and health care in recent years.

To find the 10 cities that look best poised for recovery (and the 10 cities likely looking at the longest climb back), we examined estimates from data provider Moody's Economy.com of the projected gross domestic product of metropolitan areas across the U.S., as well as unemployment figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and home prices, incomes and affordability data from the National Association of Home Builders. Because, in general, healthy cities were not victims of as severe a housing collapse, home prices were not used in ranking the cities poised for recovery.

Investors, it is time to buy in Austin!  My company has been discussing that in the last 30 days in the central areas (1B, 1A, 8E, 8W, 4,6,7)  that there is currently 6.5 months of single family homes  inventory.  In normal language that translates to a fairly balanced market of buyers and sellers and in area 1n, there is currently only 3.2 months of inventory (That does not include all areas of Austin). Finally, the Statesman reported local good news and not just national gloom.

Please email me if you would like an activity summary or a year to date update of a specific area/neighborhood in Austin.

I wanted to remind you that the deadline to protest your property tax is this weekend. If you are considering filing a protest, the bottom of this post has several links that I found extremely informative. Especially, this one. Below are suggestions to prepare for your protest before the Appraisal Review Board.

• Check the appraisal to make sure the property description and measurements of your property are correct.
• Check the appraisal to see if it accounts for hidden defects-for example, a cracked foundation or inadequate plumbing. Evidence of a hidden defect could be a photograph, or a statement from a builder or independent appraiser.
• Ask the district for the appraisal records on similar properties in the area-to learn if similar properties are treated equally.
• Consider using an independent appraisal by a real estate appraiser. Insurance records are often helpful.
• Get documents or sworn statements from any person providing any sales information.
• Use sales of properties that are similar to the subject property in size, age, location, and type of construction.
• Use sales that occurred closest to January 1.
• Weigh the cost of preparing a protest against the potential tax savings.
• Ask the appraisal district to see and inspect all information it used to set the value of your property. The appraisal district must give you the opportunity to inspect information, even if the information would normally be considered confidential.
• Ask to inspect and obtain a copy of the data, schedules, formulas, and any other information that the appraisal district plans to introduce at the hearing. The law requires the appraisal district to allow you the opportunity to inspect during the 14 days before the protest hearing.

Statistics tell us so much about what is going on in todays market.  Below is a chart of the Monthly Residential Closed Units Year to Date for you to review!

The Month in Review April 2009

Units for Sale: (compared to April 2008)
New listings were down 22.84%.

Pendings were down 6.12%.

Solds decreased by 23.45%.

As for Average Prices:

The "New Listings" average list price is up 11.10% to 369,308. In April 2008 the average list price was $332,403.

Sold average sales prices decreased 6.22% to $228,272. For April 2008 it was $243,410.

I have received several calls from clients whose appraisals increased significantly which they thought seemed contrary to the daily news.  This always seems to be a topic of conversation when I am around so I thought you might like to see this information.  Please remember it is only 3 months and I do have all of last year if you are interested.  I also have the statistics on all areas so if yours is omitted, please call me and I shall send it to you.