Austin Real Estate (Unnamed Copywriting)

Real estate prices have steadily fallen across the country since the beginning of 2007. There has been a lot of talk recently about this trend leveling off and of the possibility of the market bottom being found. However, this is just not the case. Last quarter, home prices declined another 19.1% from their levels the year before. This is not a good sign for the nation’s real estate market.

But, this statistic is for the nation as a whole. While the entirety of the housing market has seen a sharp decline in value, it has not been universal. There are certain areas that absolutely have hit the price floor and are ready to begin increasing in value again.

Austin is one of these areas. In the last nine months, the average home sale price has first leveled off, and now started to increase. From January to now, the median price has increased more than $12,000 from $176,750 to $189,000. Especially in comparison to the rest of the nation, these are very strong signs for both the Austin economy as well as its housing market.

This does not, however, mean that you have missed the boat in terms of taking advantage of the housing crisis. The decline in home price was a perfect opportunity to buy real estate while the value is low in the hopes of selling later at a higher price. The recent increase in the median home sale price may make you think that it’s already too late to partake in this trend, but consider this: In June of last year, the median home price was at $199,000. That was already a year and a half into the housing crisis. There is still plenty of room for improvement, which means plenty of room for profit.

As if this weren’t enough to convince you that now is the time to buy a house in Austin, Congress announced today that it is within days of agreeing on extending the first time homebuyer tax credit into next year. It is also rumored that they will be increasing the credit from $8,000 to $15,000. The timing on this will work out perfectly for you. If you start looking now, you’ll be in line to close your new mortgage right in time to take advantage of this increased tax credit.

And, don’t be fooled by the recent increase in price. This still doesn’t change the fact that this is still a buyer’s market. The recession is hurting people who are trying to sell their house in worse ways than just making it harder for them to make the payments. It’s also made it much harder to actually sell their homes. Because of record high unemployment levels, there are less potential home buyers out there. Because of the collapse of mortgage lending, there are no where near as many lending options available for the potential buyers who are left. The end result of this is that someone selling their house is lucky to even get an offer, regardless of where it comes in at.

If you’ve been on the fence in regard to buying a home. Now is the time to act. The longer you wait, the less chance you’ll have to really take advantage of the current housing slump.