Austin housing market accelerates

AUSTIN – Metrostudy’s Quarterly Residential Survey in the Austin region indicated there were 6,545 new home starts in the last year, a 19 percent increase from a year ago. The increased starts total is the result of increasing demand, as well as very low inventory levels for new homes.

Metrostudy counted 1,105 finished and vacant new homes at the end of second quarter 2012, the lowest total since 1Q 2001.

The biggest challenge for builders in the Austin market is the tight supply of finished lots in the most desirable areas. While the Austin region as a whole has a 30-month supply of developed lots, in some areas there is less than a 15-month supply of lots.

While less than 3,000 apartments built in the area during 2010 and 2011, as many as 7,700 units could be completed by the middle of 2013, with another 11,000 units starting construction by mid-2013.

On the new home side, the study predicts a range of 7,000 new homes to be built in 2012.