Believe me people, I would rather be in the Texas real estate market then just about any other in the country right now. This article is just a little spark of positivity for us in central Texas, in a negative media driven bombardment we all get exposed to everyday about the economy and real estate markets.

Report brings new perspective to Austin housing market
By Austin Business Journal

While the last two years of declines in new housing activity have been difficult for Central Texas, some housing market indicators show Austin is relatively balanced, according to a report from the Austin Chamber of Commerce.

Residential permits for 2008 will be at their lowest level in decades, at approximately 14,000 units, a total similar to the activity of the late 1990's. But, according to research the Chamber cites from Residential Strategies Inc. Austin's "employment change to residential permit ratio"--measured over a nearly two-decade period--is at a healthy 1 single family permit to 2.15 net new jobs.

The employment change-to-permit ratio is one metric used to examine the balance between supply and demand in the market, based on the assumption that new jobs create demand for new homes. In other words, for every 2.15 new jobs created since 1990, one single-family residential building permit has been issued.

For 2008 through November, the employment change to permit ratio is 1 to 1.42 for Austin. In 2007 the ratio was 1 to 1.87 locally.

Nationally in 2008, 852,529 permits were issued, but the net change in jobs was negative 1.8 million for the first 11 months of the year.