UT Condos and Central Austin Highlights

The University of Texas is predicting 8,000 freshmen to enroll this year, which would be the largest in 10 years. If the prediction becomes reality there will be roughly 51,500 students enrolled, which would be with largest in UT’s history. Freshmen enrollment is trending to have 900 more students than last year. Although the largest, UT is not the only university in Austin. Other universities like St. Edwards may be seeing an increase in admission as well. The increased student population will affect real estate in a number of ways.

UT Condos

People come from all over the country to attend the University of Texas and other schools in Austin. While most students will initially take advantage of on campus housing, many will ultimately move to nearby condos. Many students with the help of their parents find that purchasing a condo makes more sense than leasing. Whether students lease or purchase through their college years, many offer decide to stay and make Austin their permanent home. With Austin’s outstanding scholastic reputation, constant influx of new business and healthy playful atmosphere, it is easy to see why people don’t want to leave.

Central Austin Real Estate

The real estate market is certainly healthy. Days on market are very low, which means things are selling quickly. I’ve been spending much of my time in the last 2 weeks in Buda and Central Austin. I have clients who get a hit on their custom home search every 2 weeks and I have others who are getting a few new homes per day to look at. In more urban areas the odds are greater in having more hits, but that doesn’t mean they are spending more time on the market. Central Austin is always desirable simply because of its easy accessibility to everything. It doesn’t matter if it’s a condo or a house. As long as it’s priced for what it is – it will sell. If it’s not priced right, it will miss its market because it’s going to look very expensive based on the other homes those buyers are looking at.  Here are some of the homes and condos I’ve seen recently.

Selling between Thanksgiving and Christmas, Disaster Movies and Central Park

Sellers who have their homes on the market between Thanksgiving and Christmas typically need to move, which makes this a triple threat season to buy. Interest rates are low, for one.  In addition, sellers who need to move have their homes priced well.  Lastly, not only is there a first time home buyer credit, but now a second time buyer credit as well.

Hey, have you heard the world is supposed to end in 2012?  That gives us 2 years to go!  Here’s a list Austin is not on…of the worst places to live if you are in a disaster movie, click here.

Last week I went on a tour of a new subdivision being built in South Austin, called Central Park. Located off of Stassney Lane, this 42 unit subdivision offers 6 floor plans, of which one plan is a 1-story.  Base prices start at $188,999 and go to $236,999.  Here’s a peak