November 2009

News just in from the Texas Real Estate Center – A total of 19,347 existing single-family homes were sold in Texas last month, a 15 percent increase from October 2008, according to MLS data compiled by the Real Estate Center at Texas A&M University.

The median price rose 1 percent to $143,300 during the same period, and the state finished the month with a 6.9-month inventory of existing homes.

Here is how select Texas cities fared in October (data current as of Nov. 24, 2009):

	Sales	Change from Last Year	Median Price	Change from Last Year	Months' Inventory

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For homeowners around the country, facing foreclosure became an unfortunate reality during the recession. While a number of homeowners have been forced into foreclosure on their homes in Austin, the good news is that RealityTrac Inc. has determined that foreclosures in Texas were actually down 7% during the month of August.

For the month of August, the state recorded a total of 11,261 default, bank repossession and auction notices. While this number may sound a bit disheartening, it is actually 6.8% less than the numbers that were posted in July. In fact, during July, these sort of filings were occurring at the rate of one out of every 838 households throughout the state, which put Texas as the 27th highest state in the country in terms of auctions,…

Americans have long believed that purchasing a home is a good investment.  Thanks to the recession, many experts hypothesized that many would no longer view home ownership as a great investment. According to a recent study conducted by Bankrate Inc., however, home ownership is still viewed as a solid investment by most.

According to the study, more than 9 out of 10 people who participated inn the survey still feel that owning a home is a good investment. This may seem like a bit of a shock considering that 25% of Americans currently owe more on their homes than what their homes are worth.

In addition to still believing that home ownership is a good investment, the recession does not seem to be making much of an impact on Americans in other areas of the…