A new analysis recently conducted by the Capital Area Council of Governments has determined that the Austin real estate region will likely begin to see signs of economic improvement later this year.
The analysis, which involved taking a closer look at IHS Global Insight data, determined that the Austin - Round Rock region's gross metropolitan product - which is the value of all of the goods and services produced in the area - should be back in the positive range by the time the fourth quarter rolls around.
According to the data, the GMP growth rate in Austin was at 5.1% when the recession officially started during the fourth quarter in 2007. This number steadily declined for every quarter afterward, until it finally fell into the negative range during…
A recent survey conducted by the ETC Institute found that 45% of Austin's residents were not happy about the traffic flow on major streets. Yet, another study conducted by the Texas Transportation Institute at Texas A&M University found that traffic may not be as big of an issue as many seem to believe.
According to the university's "Urban Mobility Report," Austin residents spent approximately 22.7 million hours on the road in 2007, which places it at 32 out of 90 metro areas in terms of traffic. This puts the city behind other Texas metro areas, including Dallas-Fort Worth, which ranked 5th. Houston came in the 9th place position on the list, while San Antonio ranked 27th.
In addition to determining the amount of time the drivers spent on the road,…
The Watershed Protection and Development Review Department is reporting that the city of Austin may be closing the popular Barton Springs pool for a period of time. Apparently, the pool is in need of receiving some critical structural repairs and, in order to successfully make these repairs, the pool will need to be closed for up to eight months.
The process of repairing Barton Springs is still in its early stages, as the Watershed Protection and Development Review Department is still to determine just how much the repairs will cost and how long the pool will need to be closed. Currently, the Department is estimating that it will cost anywhere from $2.5 million to $4.7 million to complete the repairs. In addition, the department estimates the project…
According to Directorship, which is a publication with a mission "to provide corporate boardroom's and governance committees with the best intelligence on the U.S. business environment," the state of Texas has once again been named the number one state in the country for businesses.
The publication selected Texas as the number one state for businesses largely because of the state's proven ability to attract Fortune 500 companies, but also because of its affordable cost of living, its solid economy and its pro-business tax climate. The magazine also cited some real-life examples of major corporate locations to the state, such as Comerica's decision to move from its location in Detroit, Michigan to Dallas as well as Caterpillar's decision to create a new…
According to Forbes.com, Austin's economy is expected to grow by a whopping $5 billion from now until the end of 2010. These figures, combined with the fact that Austin has a relatively subdued unemployment rate, are the two greatest reasons why Forbes.com has identified Austin as the city that is likely to experience the quickest recovery from our current economic troubles.
Several economists are already predicting that our national economy will start to grow again by the end of this year, if not sooner. This will not, however, be the case for every city. In fact, many cities will be faced with a slow recovery, with many likely to need several more years to recover.
Austin isn't the only city in Texas that is poised for a relatively fast turnaround, as…
Although the Austin metro area is fairing well than most of the country in terms of foreclosures, the city of Austin as well as the State of Texas have decided not to sit back and simply “ride out” the wave of foreclosures that have taken place throughout the state. As such, the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs recently applied for a grant from the National Foreclosure Mitigation Counseling Program and won a $387,000 grant.
The grant monies will be used to help bring more stability to Texas families, including those in the city of Austin, who are struggling to make their mortgage payments. It is also intended to bring assistance to neighborhoods as well as to help stabilize government finances. As such, the Texas Department of Housing…
The General Services Administration, which is responsible for providing support to other federal agencies and for managing approximately $500 billion of Federal property, will be dispersing money to over 100 different development projects across the country. The funding, which became available through the recently passed stimulus package, is meant to help produce new jobs while also improving government facilities throughout the country.
In all, the state of Texas will be receiving $325 million from the stimulus package, which will be used to fund 18 GSA projects throughout the state. Three of these projects will take place in Austin, which will be receiving $132 million in stimulus money from the General Services Administration.
According to a survey conducted by John Burns Real Estate Consulting, the number of new home sales, expectations, and traffic increased in January. This is consistent with statistics for the rest of the nation, which showed that current and expected sales have increased throughout the country. In fact, when compared to January statistics, the average net sales rose from 1.0 to 1.4.
On the national level, starts per community averaged just one unit last month. 40% of those who participated in the survey, however, reported that they saw zero starts last month. On the other hand, 14% reported that they would be starting three or more units in February. This figure is up from the 9% who reported that they would be starting three to four units the…
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city of Austin was the second fastest-growing metropolitan area in the country between 2007 and 2008. During this time period, the population within the Austin-Round Rock area grew to 1.65 million, which represents a 3.8% growth in population. The only other metropolitan area to post a faster population growth rate was the Raleigh-Cary, North Carolina area, which saw a 4.3% population increase during that same time period.
The United States Census Bureau statistics also showed that large metropolitan areas with a population of 1 million or more people were also the areas that most commonly experienced large growths in population. In fact, 9 of the 10 fastest growing counties were areas that were home…
Students throughout the state of Texas should soon see an improvement in the quality and the nutrition of their school-provided lunches. According to the Texas Department of Agriculture, the state recently received $11 million in federal funding - all of which is part of the recently passed stimulus package - with which they will be able to upgrade, update, and replace food preparation equipment throughout the state's schools.
"Schools can use this money to replace old, worn-out equipment and make sure our children are receiving healthy meals," said Todd Staples, who is the Texas Agriculture Commissioner, in an interview with Austin Biz Journals. "These funds will go a long way to improving the nutritional offerings in schools."
