Lubbock's housing market, and economy as a whole, has not traditionally experienced the extreme highs and lows that so many markets across the country have been subjected to. As a result, Lubbock's home prices tend to adjust up or down much more gradually. Lubbock also boasts of having one of the most affordable housing markets in the country. While negative economic numbers from troubled areas such as Los Angeles, Phoenix, and Las Vegas may dominate the evening news, areas such as Lubbock are quietly weathering the storm.
At David Rogers Homes we realize that buying a home is a big decision. It is our goal to provide you with all the resources you need in order to make an informed home buying decision. Listed below are some recent articles that highlight the Lubbock housing market and economy in general.
To read the complete report, click here
To read the complete report, visit recenter.tamu.edu/news/pdf/NewsRel03-1012.pdf
To read the complete report, visit http://recenter.tamu.edu/news/pdf/NewsRel26-0712.pdf
To read the complete report, visit http://recenter.tamu.edu/news/pdf/NewsRel25-0712.pdf
LUBBOCK (Lubbock Avalanche-Journal)
Source: Texas Real Estate Center
2/10/2011
Charlie Hamilton of Lubbock Land Company released the semi-annual single-family housing market survey. It is full of pertinent information and historical information on the Lubbock housing market.
Lubbock finished the year with a 4.25-month supply of new homes in inventory, and did a nice job in the last year of selling some houses that had been waiting three and four years for buyers.
Nationally, the new-home inventory stood at 6.9 months.
At the same time, Lubbock's existing home inventory was at 6.5 months, while the national supply is 9.4 months.
The Lubbock housing market is noticeably more affordable than some areas based on the ratio of median family income to buy the median priced home, using 20 percent down and a fixed-rate mortgage.
Lubbock's median home price of $114,300 dollars, a family putting 5 percent down with a 5.5-percent, 30-year mortgage would need a yearly income of between $30,000 and $38,000 dollars to qualify with a payment of $988 dollars a month. That plays out well against Lubbock's median family income: $53,100.
In all, Lubbock finished the year with a total unsold inventory of 235 houses, down 13 percent from 269 homes at the end of 2009. Of the unsold inventory, 120 were complete, 115 were under construction.
http://lubbockonline.com/editorials/2011-01-02/good-cotton-crop-brings-huge-economic-boost-lubbock
LUBBOCK (Lubbock Avalanche-Journal)
Source: Texas Real Estate Center
1/11/2011
Irving-based TXU Energy said Wednesday it is developing a customer call center in Lubbock that's expected to create 150 jobs locally by midyear.
The announcement was part of a 500-worker investment in Texas TXU said at an afternoon press conference in Dallas.
The company is also creating an eventual 250 customer service jobs at a call center in Abilene and 80 new jobs in Dallas, said Jeff Camp, TXU vice president for contact center operations.
LUBBOCK (Lubbock Avalanche-Journal)
Source: Texas Real Estate Center
12/11/2010
Only 169 homes were sold in November, down 34 percent from the 257 sold in 2009, according to the Multiple Listing Service.
Lubbock had almost 1,700 active residential listings last month, compared to 1,362 listed the same time last year.
Homes were spending about seven months on the market, compared to a little more than five last year. But prices have not suffered as a result.
The average price of a single-family home was $149,853, up from $132,435 last year. The median single-family sales price climbed to $119,900 from $106,875.
Total residential sales volume was down about 10 percent for the year compared to 2009, to more than $376 million from more than $415.5 million. Median prices for the year rose from $112,000 in 2009 to $115,000 for the same period in 2010.
COLLEGE STATION, Tex. (Real Estate Center) - The Texas economy continues to outperform the U.S. economy in the current recovery. The state's economy gained 194,400 jobs from November 2009 to November 2010, an annual growth rate of 1.9 percent.
Over the same period, the U.S. economy gained 842,000 jobs, an annual growth rate of 0.6 percent. Texas' private sector continues to play a key role in creating jobs, according to the Real Estate Center's Monthly Review of the Texas Economy for December.
The state's private sector posted an annual employment growth rate of 2.2 percent compared with 1 percent for the U.S. private sector from November 2009 to November 2010, said the report's authors Research Economist Dr. Ali Anari and Chief Economist Dr. Mark Dotzour.
To read the complete report, go to http://recenter.tamu.edu/pdf/1862.pdf
If what goes up must come down, is the opposite true?
If home prices go down, will they eventually go back up - or at least level off? The Wall Street Journal's Simon Constable says yes.
He's predicting an end to the housing crisis.... this year.
Let's take a look at what we know. Last week's S&P/Case Shiller index shows prices fell another percent in December. In fact, since the bubble burst in 2006, prices have fallen by 31%, after steadily rising for more than a decade.
But with falling prices comes affordability. An average family would only need 19 months of pay to afford a home - that's the lowest point in 35 years. The national average used to be closer to two years, but that varies depending on where you live.
Five years ago - at the height of the housing boom - a home in Los Angeles would require four and a half years pay. Now it's back to two years. And even though experts predict prices will still fall somewhat this year - they foresee only a drop of 5%.
So now may be the time to jump into the real-estate market. One analyst says, "Pricing is down so much in some markets that when you analyze renting versus owning it makes much more sense to own..."
Another sign of better days to come: investors are jumping back into the game. That gives confidence to a struggling market and pay push a turnaround.
And many of these investors are paying in cash - another great sign.
The paper points out that nationally more than a quarter of homebuyers paid in cash last year. Some regions are even better: in Miami, more than half of all transactions were made in cash. In 2006 it was only 13%.
The same goes for Phoenix, where nearly half of the transactions are now in cash - triple what it was in 2008.
Now I am not going to stand here and tell you in the next few months we'll be back to the heyday of the last decade... nor should we be.
But we need to get people back into the housing market, making sound investments with the right amount of savings...and a turn-around may be just the way to do it.
