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Firstly, a VERY Happy 4th of July to You and Yours from entire Select Austin Real Estate Team. We wish you a Safe and Fun day of celebrations … Enjoy!

Things on the Austin housing front continue to show extremely positive indications on the housing front. This time it is the builders who are weighing in with news on the very hot housing market.

If you have been looking for a re-sale home and been frustrated by what seems like every good looking home going under contract as soon as it hits the market, this news comes as no surprise … new builder home sales are up 34% for the first 5 months of 2012, over the same period in 2011.

I recently had some clients who gave up on looking for re-sales as they just could not find the right home, primarily as inventory is so, so, low; the good ones are going so fast; and many homes are ending up in multi-offer situations.

Builders are fully aware of the “seller’s market” conditions and have tightened their negotiation flexibility and started increasing prices accordingly … one builder, at a development in the Buda area, has increased their prices over 15% since January … a reason to make sure that you have an experienced negotiator on your side when you visit the builders sales office.

In a news report in the Austin American Statesman, signs continue to point to a housing recovery in the Austin area, said D'Ann Petersen, a business economist with the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas. "Home sales and starts continue to rise, in part due to strong job growth," said Petersen, who tracks the Central Texas housing market. "Austin's economy has added jobs at a faster pace than the state average this year. The low inventory of new and existing homes in Austin suggest we should continue to see housing construction pick up."

One last note on builder homes: in most cases be prepared to wait a little longer for your new home to be built. Builders are having trouble finding construction teams to meet the current demand. One major area builder informed me that they are adding a month to their earlier building timeframes. Many are now quoting 6-8 months.

For more on this story, check out the Statesman report at … http://www.statesman.com/business/real-estate/central-texas-home-starts-...