Home Sales, Traffic and Expectations Increase Throughout the State

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 previous month.

"I spent several days in Texas this month and can confirm that the pick-up is real and is driven by lower mortgage rates in an area where home price appreciation was insignificant and the economy is still OK," said John Burns, who is the CEO of John Burns Real Estate Consulting in Irvine, California, in an interview with Austin Biz Journals.

Despite the positive news, the consulting group still reports that home prices continue to move in a downward direction throughout the country.

"We look forward to calling a bottom in home price declines, but we are definitely not there - in any region of the country," continued Burns.

In order to determine these statistics, the consulting company reviewed information provided by 236 home building industry executives.