BIG Blog

Relocation to Austin is strong and our rental properties are filling up quickly. For the last month we have seen several properties receive multiple lease applications.

Prospects are telling me they want to hurry up and submit an application before "it is taken". By my best guess, about every 3 or 4 callers out of every 10 are from out of state (or least a non 512 Austin area code). We have raised rents with this summer's properties by 10% to 15% and are still getting multiple applications. The rental market is a bit stronger than I had anticipated and by the economic forecasts, and will continue getting stronger. Multifamily properties are now becoming more valuable with the dramatic increases in rent.

Mark Dotzour, Chief Economist at Real Estate Center at Texas A&M University recently gave a talk to Austin commercial brokers on the economic outlook for investors and decision makers.

Here is a link to his slides:

http://recenter.tamu.edu/speeches/pdf/MD051911S1286.pdf

"Forbes, recently examined what the next decade has in store for America’s 52 largest cities. The publication used recent U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics growth and demographic data to compile a list of the expected "boom towns." The Central Texas region from Round Rock to San Marcos came in first." Read full article

With money to burn but still having a strong aversion to risk, investors have increasingly turned single-tenant properties into one of the hottest commercial real estate plays in the country. For the last quarter of 2010 and first two quarters of this year, data shows that sales of single-tenant properties have averaged more than 10,000 transactions per quarter - the highest quarterly totals on record. Full Article

Austin snuck into the top five markets to watch next year, according to annual Emerging Trends in Real Estate report

from PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP and the Urban Land Institute. The Capital City was ranked No. 2 on the list following Washington D.C. San Francisco, New York City and Boston rounded out the top five.