Housing Real Estate Market Predictions 2012

CBS Money Watch featured an article on housing market predictions for 2012 and it’s clear that the nation’s real estate balance sheet is slowly turning around.

The official unemployment rate dropped to 8.6 percent while the U-6, which is the broadest measure of unemployment, fell below 16 percent for the first time since the Great Recession started. 

Fannie Mae’s November National Housing Survey also found that homeowners now believe that their home values will rise 0.2 percent over the next year.  That’s the first time in six months that price expectations moved from negative to positive terrain.

Another boost to the housing market is that mortgage interest rates still remain at historic lows with the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage at under 4 percent.  The 15-year fixed-rate mortgage averages close to 3 percent. 

Looking forward to 2012, the biggest indication that the housing market might begin to stabilize is that the number of delinquent homeowners facing foreclosure is shrinking.

Find out what’s happening in your local market through our Housing Trends Newsletter with market reports for 150 metropolitan areas.  As always, Texas Capital Properties is your online source for real estate in Austin, TX and Houston, TX.

 

Austin and Houston Adding Jobs to Retail Sectors

According to data from The Business Journal’s On Numbers recent report, Austin and Houston are the only U.S. metropolitan areas that have added more than 1,000 jobs to their retail sectors since the beginning of 2007. 

Houston ranked at the top spot by adding 4,500 jobs while Austin ranked No. 2 for adding 1,500 retail jobs.  Other markets in the top 100 suffered declines in retail-trade employment the past four years. 

If you are looking to relocate to Austin or Houston, contact us today! Search Austin and Houston real estate with Texas Capital Properties.

Texas Created Almost 20 percent of Total Jobs for US according to Report

According to the Real Estate Center at Texas A&M University’s latest report, Texas created 19.4 percent of total jobs created in the United States from September 2010 to September 2011. Texas gained 248,700 nonfarm jobs during the period, an annual growth rate of 2.4 percent compared with 1.1 percent for the United States.

The state’s private sector added more than 280,000 jobs at an annual growth rate of 3.3 percent compared with 1.7 percent for the nation’s private sector.

Read the full report.

 

Texas Leads the Country in Population Growth

With nearly 26 million residents, Texas continues to lead the country in population growth according to data compiled by The Business Journals’. 

That means the Lone Star State added almost 700,000 in the past year.  It’s the most of any other state in the nation.

Looking for real estate in Texas?  Visit our website to search homes and properties in Austin and Houston.