Austin comes in 8th in the list of the best job markets in the nation:

Austin, the third Texas metro to crack the top 10, is definitely on the rise. It has been consistently strong as of late, adding 69,000 jobs since 2004, the equivalent of 1,900 per month. And its unemployment rate has slimmed nicely from 4.6 percent in mid-2006 to 3.8 percent now.

Quick stats

Private-sector jobs as of mid-2007: 592,100

Unemployment rate as of mid-2007: 3.8%

Private-sector trend since mid-2002: Added 74,300 jobs

Five-year growth rate: 14.3%

Private-sector trend since mid-2006: Added 20,900 jobs

One-year growth rate: 3.7%”

The average price is $327,840 and that works out to about $177 sqft. It’s getting tougher to find a good 3 bed, 2 bath homes for sale under $400,000 in this current market.

As of today, October 19, 2007, there are 180 active, single-family home listings in Steiner Ranch. The average price is $586,286, with the least expensive home being $225,000 and the highest being $3.6 million. The average price per square foot is $158. Steiner Ranch is pretty diverse, with many homes being in what one might call an average neighborhood setting. Other homes are on a golf course and still others are on Lake Austin or at the top of a cliff high over Lake Austin. So far this year, 267 single-family homes have sold in Steiner Ranch. The average price has been $437,771 with the high and low being almost $1.56 million and $225,900 respectively. On average, it took 70 days to sell a home. Since 9-15-07, 13 homes have sold in Steiner Ranch. The average price was $373,290 with the average price per foot being $127. The average days on market was 84. As the market has changed quite a bit recently, let’s look at recent data compared to a year earlier. Between 9-15-06 and 10-19-06, 19 homes sold in Steiner Ranch. The average price was $463,021 and the average price per foot was $133. The average days on market was 68. What does this tell us? This isn’t the best time to sell a house in Steiner Ranch, but it looks to be a great time to buy. The “national” real estate market drop has affected Austin. I really think it has more to do with negative press than anything else. Austin is a vibrant and healthy community in economic terms. People who read the headlines just assume Austin is like everything the read or hear in the news. This simply isn’t true, but many buyers have quit looking.

The Austin Rental Market keeps chugging along. Not much new to say for the stats report this month as the steady climb in rents continues. Average rental rate is up 5.7% from a year ago, to $1354 (though down from last month due to our seasonal shift). But remember, average rents in Austin are still not yet back to the year 2000 rates. Stats are below. I did a breakout this month by city just to include something new. As usual, questions and comments are welcome.