AUSTIN AREA INFORMATION
In June 2007, CNN Money ranked Austin the 3RD FASTEST growing big city in the United States. In addition, Forbes Magazine recently released the 100 fastest growing suburbs in America. Texas alone had 12 of the fastest growing and Austin had 3- Cedar Park, TX was #11, Plugerville, TX was #23, and Round Rock, TX was #49. Austin continually gets ranked as one of the best places to live in the United States as well.
Austin Projected median sales prices for single-family homes(CNN Money 9/07):
Q1 2008: $186,350
Q4 2009: $195,060
Based on Austin Board of REALTOR stats as of May 2008, the average sales price in Austin is $262,901. That is up from $249,732 for the same time period in 2007.
Forbes has ranked Austin the #3 best Sellers Market in the Country and the #2 best Buyers Market as of July 2008.
In Austin, the rental market takes a backseat to buyers, many of whom hold high-paying jobs with tech giants like Dell, IBM, and Freescale Semiconductors. Austin's population is well educated - 40 percent have a university degree - and the Texas capital ranks among the top major metropolitan areas for business startups per capita. Austin also has the highest percent age of residents in the coveted 25- to 34-year-old demographic and, not coincidentally, the highest concentration of live music venues in the country. The labor market is so hot that shortages of engineers and product managers are driving double-digit wage hikes in those occupations. But unlike other creative-class capitals, Austin doesn't price white-collar talent out of the housing market. At $200,000, the median sales price for a single-family home is about a third of that in San Francisco. But the gap is starting to close: While home prices in San Francisco have barely budged since the market peaked in 2005, prices in Austin have risen by 6 percent. That has prompted major builders to lay groundwork for some of the largest new master-planned communities in the country - at the very time that competitors are fleeing other Sun Belt metros.
Let me show you why I am proud to call Austin my home!
Austin Facts
Austin ranks as the 4th Best City in Overall Standard of Living by Expansion Management, June 2006
Austin ranks 2nd among the Top 10 Best Big Cities in the country by cnn.money.com, 2006
Austin ranks as the 3rd Smartest City in the country by Bizjournals.com, June 2006
Austin ranks in the Top 5 Smart Places to Live by Kiplingers Personal Finance and the Austin Business Journal, June 2006
Austin ranked 28th in Best Places for Business and Careers by Forbes, May 2006
Austin ranks 2nd in the 50 Best Places to Live by Mens Journal, March 2006
Austin ranks 6th in the Top 10 Cities for Walking by Prevention magazine, August 2006
Austin ranks as the Best Place to Live in America for Hispanics by Hispanic magazine for the second year in a row, August 2005
Austin ranks as the 2nd Best Place to Live for Moviemakers by Moviemaker Magazine, December 2005
Austin ranks 3rd Best Wireless Place to Live in America by Livescience.com, June 2005
Austin ranks 2nd among the 10 Best Places to Live, judging on financial, educational and quality of life criteria by Money magazine, July 2006
Austin was included in the 8 Cheapest Places You'd Want to Live survey by Sperling's BestPlaces.com and msn.com, July 2006
Austin ranks 2nd among the 50 Best Places to Live comparing the combinations of adventure, attractiveness, and affordability by Mens Journal, April 2006
Austin was voted the Best Place to Live for Future Business Locations by Expansion Magazine, August 2006
Austin ranks 9th in the Top 10 Hot Cities for Entrepreneurs by Entrepreneur.com, September 2005
According to DogFancy Austin is one of the Top 10 Cities to Be a Dog, November 2005
Austin ranks 8th of America's Cleanest Cities by Reader's Digest, July 2005
Austin ranks 10th in the Top 10 Healthiest Cities in America by Sperling's, July 2006
Austin ranks 11th in the 25 Best Running Cities in America poll by Runners World, July 2005
Austin makes the cut as one of 50 Fabulous Gay-Friendly Places to Live by Gregory A. Kompes, December 2005
Austin ranks 2nd on Vegetarian Times' Ten Greenest Cities list, July/August 2005
Pollstar names Austin City Limits Music Festival the "Festival of the Year" during it's annual Concert Industry Awards, February 2006
American Way magazine features "The Top 10 Lists of Great American Music" and Austin appears on three of the lists including "great music towns," "great bigger-is-better music festivals" for the Austin City Limits Music Festival and "sacred ground" for Threadgill's restaurant, June 2005
Austin ranks 6th in a study by Silicon Valley naming the nation's Top Tech Hubs. The study compared business and quality-of-life issues, claiming Austin has affordable housing, electricity and state taxes, September 2005
Austin is among the Coolest Cities for Young Professionals according to Kiplinger.com, September 2005
Austin ranks 1st among U.S. cities in the fourth annual Mayors Challenge rankings of the Best Cities for Future Business Locations by Management magazine
Each year, Intel ranks the Top 100 U.S. Cities and Regions with the Greatest Number of Commercial and Public Wireless Internet Access Points and Austin ranks third, October 2006
Austin ranks 3rd in a list of America's Most Innovative Cities by the Wall Street Journal
