A surprise announcement by Dell, Inc. earlier this week sent the Austin real estate community into shock. Dell plans to close it's North Austin manufacturing facility, cutting almost 800-900 jobs in early 2009. Globally, the company will remove up to 10% of it's workforce, about 8800 jobs, saving up to $3 billion.

Readers asked me to cover the topic. Specific questions:

"How will the closing of Dell's North Austin manufacturing plant affect Austin real estate values?"

"How will the 800-900 lost jobs impact the local economy?"

"Is this an indication that Austin is set for a real estate bust?"

These are good questions, but there are no easy answers. The purpose of this article is to start dialogs and create a basis for discussion.

Austin Real Estate Stats Since the Tech Bust of 2000 

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