Why Texas Has Weathered the Storm

The national media's reporting on the real estate market has been overwhelmingly negavtive, no one can deny that. But somehow, Texas has seemed to manage to survive, thrive even. Texas never had the outrageous apprectiation the rest of the nation had. While California's home prices inflated upwards of 20% per year, Texas maintained an easy and steady 6-7%. Credit was also quickly and easily available in a wide variety of "creative" loans, i.e. Adjustable-Rate Mortgages. This fueled massive activity and speculation in the real estate market.

Fast-forward to today. Home prices quickly outpaced the salaries of the people looking to buy. This coincided with mortgagees defaulting on the loans they could no longer afford. The result was a bust in housing prices and a large number of foreclosures. The federal guidelines for approving homebuyers were made more difficult. Potential customers needed higher credit scores, less debt, and more cash on hand to be approved. With a much lower pool of qualified buyers, the inventory of homes on the market has risen across the country. Today, San Antonio has around twice the number the homes for sale on the market as it did at this time last year. The average days on market has also increased Around 2,000 real estate transactions take place every month in San Antonio. The market's still going, simply at a slower pace than before. Real estate prices in San Antonio are continuing to appreciate.

With such a large inventory, sellers that need to sell are quick to lower the price of their home. Buyers who can get approval are in a great position to buy in todays market.com