The Austin real estate market continues to build muscle with unit sales increasing 12% month over month comparing January 2011 with January 2012.  We have seen 8 straight months of increasing unit sales since June 2011 to the present. Inventory is down 20% month over month comparing January 2011 to January 2012. We currently have 4.2 months of inventory in Austin compared to 6.2 months of inventory nation wide. This 4.2 months of inventory is the lowest we have seen since the Austin Board of Realtors began keeping track of this figure.

Local economists predict that Austin will add approximately 45,000 jobs over the next 24 months. The jobless rate is currently 6.3% for 2011 and is expected to drop to 5.6% in 2012. Austin's population is currently 1.8 million and is expected to grow to 2.3 million by the year 2020. 

The median home price in Austin remains at $190,000 with only a slight 2% increase in price since 2010. With demand increasing and inventory decreasing we can expect to see a sharper increase in home prices this year.