Austin Home Starts Up 20% in the First Quarter

Austin Home Starts in the first quarter of 2012 were up 20% over the first quarter of 2011, Statesman.com reports.  Builders began 1,545 homes in Central Texas in the first three months of 2012.  Metrostudy, a company that reports on the housing market in Austin and other metro areas around the country, said that for March 2011-March 2012, builders started on 6,380 homes, an increase of 16 percent from the preceding year. 

All these promising figures are signs of the housing market picking up. New home inventory is at its lowest level of the last 20 years, so as builders are seeing more traffic in new home neighborhoods, they are starting more new houses to keep pace with the increased sales.  Austin's strong job growth is seen as one of the main reasons for the increased housing starts.

Consumer Confidence is also increasing and apartment rents are rising, which is leading many renters to make the leap to ownership.  If the job creation rate continues to be strong in Austin, Metrostudy expects the 2nd quarter to also see a lot of home starts and increased prices for new homes as we head into the summer.