My New Blog

After managing the Omni Austin Hotel Downtown for 15 years, Omni Hotels Corp. has purchased the 375 room property from Walton Street Capital LLC.  The Irving based management company will invest $10 million into updating guest rooms at the 20 year old hotel located at 700 San Jacinto Blvd.

Omni HOtels Cop. now has 12 assets in Texas.

In Austin, Texas, the rental market takes a back seat to buyers, many of whom hold high paying jobs with tech giants like Dell, IBM, Cisco, Broadcom and Freescale Semiconductors.  Austin's population is extremely well educated! 40 percent have a university degree and the Texas capital ranks among the top major metropolitan areas for business startups per capita.  Austin also has the highest percent  age of residents in the coveted 25-35 year old demographic and, not coincidentally, the highest concentration of live music venues in the country.  The labor market is so hot that shortages of engineers and product managers are driving double-digit wage hikes in those occupations.

But unlike other creative class capitals, Austin doesn't price white-collar talent out of the housing market.  At $200,000, the median sales price for a single-family home is about a third of that in San Francisco.  But is the gap starting to close?  While home prices in San Francisco have barely budged since the marked peaked in 2005, prices in Austin have risen by a minimum of 6 percent (I've seen as much as 24% in some areas).  That has prompted major builders to lay groundwork for some of the largest new master planned communities in the country.  At the very time that competitors are fleeing other Sun Belt metros.  It's a great time to buy real estate in Austin!

Buying or Selling?

I Want to Help!!!

Heather Brown

512-751-2931

or visit

www.HeatherBrown.com

The Federal Reserve Board's Federal Open Market Committee cut it's short-term interest rate by a half of a percentage point today to 4.75 percent.

According to the committee, the tightening of credit conditions has the potential to intensify the housing correction and to restrain economic growth more generally.

The committee said toay's rate cut is intended to help forestall some of the adverse effects on the broader economy that might otherwise arise from the disruptions in financial markets and to promote moderate growth over time.

The cut to the federal funds rate is the first since June 2003.

In a related action, the Board of Governors also unanimously approved a 50 basis point decrease in the discount rate to 5.25%.  The discount rate is the rate banks pay to borrow directly from the Federal Reserve.

Buying or Selling a Home?

I Want to Help!!!

Heather Brown

RE/MAX Austin Skyline

512-751-2931 or visit www.HeatherBrown.com