NOW'S THE TIME TO BUY, IF . . .

COLLEGE STATION- "It appears we are at the bottom of the housing market in most Texas cities," said Real Estate Center Director Mark Dotzour after reviewing the state's latest home sale numbers.

Dotzour mentioned two years ago that new home construction needed to fall dramatically to avoid the level of overbuilding that could damage Texas housing markets. He even picked summer 2009 as the bottom of the housing cycle because bankers would constrain credit to homebuilders and developers.

Apparently he was right on all counts. The Texas inventory of unsold new and existing homes is in good shape.

"I feel now is the time to buy a house in most Texas cities," he said. "Housing affordability has never been higher, and I never thought I would see 5 percent mortgages in my lifetime. If you plan to live in the house for at least two or three years, now is the time to buy.

Focusing on Property Values Bexar

County leaders do more with less.

Like most Texas local governments, Bexar County is being forced to tighten its belt in response to tougher economic times.

But quick reactions and careful planning are making the process as painless as possible, according to David Smith, the county’s budget and chief investment officer.

Bexar County began keeping an eye on the national housing debacle a year ago.

“We’ve been watching developments since last summer, in part due to being in the bond market and seeing the massive changes that were already starting to take place on Wall Street,” Smith says. “So we were already concerned by the future implications.”

TEXAS ECONOMY FEELING RECESSION, STILL STRONGER THAN NATION'S

COLLEGE STATION (Real Estate Center) – The Texas economy is in a deep recession but is still weathering the downturn better than the nation’s economy. The state’s economy lost 274,600 jobs from June 2008 to June 2009, an annual job loss of 2.6 percent. Over the same period, the U.S. economy lost more than 5.8 million jobs or 4.2 percent of its total nonfarm jobs.

The state’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate rose from 4.8 percent in June 2008 to 7.5 percent in June 2009. The U.S. rate rose from 5.6 percent to 9.5 percent during that time.

Only two Texas industries (education and health services and leisure and hospitality) and the government sector had more jobs in June 2009 than in June 2008. Nine industries had net job losses over the same period.

Only three Texas metro areas had positive employment growth rates from June 2008 to June 2009. Twenty-three metro areas had net job losses. Odessa ranked first in job creation followed by Killeen–Temple–Fort Hood and McAllen-Edinburg-Mission.

The state’s actual unemployment rate in June 2009 was 8 percent. Amarillo had the lowest unemployment rate followed by Lubbock, Midland, Abilene and Texarkana.

The complete Texas monthly economic review is available on the Real Estate Center's website.

Compliments of:

August Mission Realty Sudoku

Sudoku instructions: Complete the 9x9 grid so that each row, each
column, and each of the nine 3x3 boxes contains the digits 1 through 9.
Contact me for the solution!

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