2015 Austin Real Estate Forecast

Below are a handful of 2015 Austin Real Estate Forecast Articles that are packed with good information for those looking to get educated on how this hot market projects in 2015.

• Improving Fundamentals and Robust Investor Appetite Fuels Sustained Performance of U.S. Commercial Real Estate Industry, According to PwC US and Urban Land Institute’s Emerging Trends in Real Estate® Forecast  pwc.com | 10/22/14 | 
  

  Interviewees like the industrial base, the appeal to the millennial generation, and the lower cost of doing business in Austin. The market was a top choice for both the office sector and the single-family housing sector and the number two ranked market for retail. Interviewees are also attracted to Austin’s diverse employee base, and the market is an example of “jobs chasing people.”

In summary 2015 trends include:

a)  Downtown transformations in locations other than the great coastal cities.

b)  In the 2020s Generation Z and its smaller households, fewer new consumers and fewer workers will begin to influence markets.

c)  Within a few years, the talk will be about labor shortages, not surpluses.

d) Real estate and technology will continue to force changes on each other – real estate by technology and vice versa.

e)  Geopolitical risks, global unrest, and natural disasters will continue to influence real estate investors.

f)  The need for clear brand identity continues to be important.

g)  IRA’s and defined contribution funds will continue to seek high quality commercial property for their mixed asset portfolios.

h)  It’s time for U.S. to get serious about upgrading infrastructure including health care facilities and educational buildings.

i)  The housing market looks stable.

j)  Beware of excessive optimism leading to a real estate bubble.

• Real estate experts: It’s great to be Austin right now, but what’s next?  Austin Business Journal | 10/30/14 | Jan Buchholz
  

  For now, however, Austin remains in a very sweet spot, Farmer said, with more economic diversity than ever before. Some 34,000 jobs have been added locally from September 2013 to September 2014. Investors in Opportunity Austin — the area’s primary economic development program — are approaching 400, a record, Farmer said.

In summary:

a)  Lawrence Yun, economist and senior vice president of the National Association of Realtors loves Austin’s energy, sees the area as the exception across a more lackluster landscape across the country.

b)  Yun also expects the Federal Reserve Bank to raise interest rates in 2015.

c) Gary Farmer, president of Heritage Title laments the potential loss of the Texas Enterprise Fund which has awarded millions of dollars of incentives to new Texas businesses.

d)  Farmer also said that efforts to tie incentives to so-called living wages and other specific requirements will tend to drive business away.

• What does the future hold for Austin? Respected economist tells all  Austin Business Journal | 1/8/15 | Jan Buchholz
  

  In the next two years, about 3.6 million square feet of office space will be absorbed. Those numbers are 700,000 square feet in the industrial sector and 1.6 million square feet of retail space. About 18,500 single family residents should be added to the housing stock as well as 16,500 new apartment units. “Let’s hope that all the single-family homes are built,” Angelou said.

In summary:

a) Austin is expected to add 69,400 jobs in 2015 and 2016.

b) Austin has the most expensive housing in the state. The hope is that more supply will drive these high prices down.

c) +40% of Austinites pay more than 35% of their income on housing.

d) Housing costing less than $150,000 is practically non-existent.

e) Today’s economic drivers are population growth, technology and enterprise, education, health and the festival economy.

f) Work commutes have increased 57% between 2000 and 2013.