It isn’t new news that Austin is a fantastic city and one of the coolest, greenest, healthiest and downright best places to live in the nation. Everyone from Forbes to Kiplingers has written about our growth, and in this blog we take a look at some of the numbers that are driving our economy forward.
According to the City of Austin, some 9,000 technology jobs will be created between now and 2017, and around 15,000 more in the medical and teaching hospital sectors. That’s a whole load of great employment opportunities and demand for entertainment, retail, and tacos! The City has some awesome initiatives such as the Family Business Loan Program, a low-interest loan program for small businesses, and the IDEA program to help lower-income adults graduate and improve their salaries. You can learn more about the city’s growth initiatives here:
http://austintexas.gov/department/economic-development
More jobs will mean more people looking for places to live, and depending on where you are in the market this might not be good news for you. The Austin Board of Realtors July 2015 report notes monthly home sales of more than 3,000 units for the first time in 2 years, with the median price for single-family homes increasing 8 percent year-on-year. Less than 30 percent of single-family homes are now valued at less than $200,000. The picture for condos isn’t much different, with year-on-year median prices increasing by 7 percent. Great if you already own and are building equity…not so great if you’re trying to get on board before the tide rises too high. You can read more here at:
http://www.austinhomesearch.com/pages/austin-market-update
Austin’s mayor, Steve Adler, had the following to say in his State of the City address on April 13, 2015:
We love Austin and can’t wait to be a part of taking this amazing city forward. Let’s hope we can manage our growth in a way that makes our city as fantastic for future generations as it is for us today!