SellAustinTexas

Austin area home sales pending to close in the month of September are up 10% from a slow August, the Austin Statesman reports. Should the almost 2,000 transactions go through, September’s home sales for the city will be 18% higher than September 2008.

This is a positive return from August, which saw home sales down 10% from August 2008, and down 11% from Austin’s strong July. While home sales were down, median home prices took less of a fall, at 4%.

BBVA Compass bank economists are predicting a return to growth for the State of Texas in 2010 - partly because of the stabilizing housing market in this region, according to their chief economist Nathaniel Karp. They predict a 4.5% increase in home sales for 2010 (along with a 1.2% increase in jobs and a 1.7% increase in gross domestic product).

There has been a lot of discussion about the role of the $8,000 first time homebuyer tax credit and its effect on sales. The IRS reports that 1.4 million homebuyers have taken advantage of the credit, and Austin has seen the effect, particularly in homes under $200,000. There has been talk of extending the credit, and some congressional leaders are pushing a six month extension or more, a move the White House is considering. Currently, however, there is no announcement, and the credit is set to end November 30. With how long it takes to process a mortgage application and other pre-closing requirements, buyers must have a house under contract a month ahead of the deadline, ideally even earlier, according to the Washington Post.

As reported in the Austin Business Journal, according to a new national forecast by IHS Global Insight, Austin (along with San Antonio) will be the first US city to recover from the recession. The report says the two cities are expected to return to their pre-recession job levels sometime in 2010. (Elsewhere in Texas, Houston and Dallas-Fort Worth are among eight metro areas named that are expected to recover by 2011.)

This matches reports that Austin and San Antonio will be the two US cities to see home prices rise this year.

IHS Global Insight is an economic research firm out of Massachusetts, and recognized as having the most consistently accurate forecasts available.