Abilene's Housing is Solid Investment
december 14, 2009
By Jaime Adame, Abilene Reporter-News
Abilene rates highly in one company’s national list of the top-performing housing markets for investors.
Local Market Monitor, based in North Carolina, included Abilene and three other Texas communities among its 10 best expected performers for home prices in the coming 12 months. The list examined only markets with fewer than 600,000 residents, though the company noted that smaller markets should have stronger home prices than larger markets because of less excessive home building.
The company rated Abilene highly because of an expected increase in value for residential properties.
While housing markets have struggled mightily in some areas, the median home price in Abilene has increased by 1.3 percent this year compared to last, according to data from the Texas A&M Real Estate Center.
“Our market has continued to go up, but we go up at a lower rate,” said Kiddy Boswell, executive officer for the Abilene Board of Realtors.
Values skyrocketed elsewhere in recent years, leading to quick profits for some housing investors. But those same homes in areas like Florida have lost value over the last year amid an unraveling of financial schemes that packaged together high-risk mortgage loans.
“Abilene has just been nice and slow and steady, but that’s the way you want it,” said Boswell.
Local Market Monitor pitches its national report to investors, mortgage lenders and developers.
The company also named Odessa, Waco and Brownsville-Harlingen on its list of best expected performers, as well as the Texarkana area. Another company, Veros Real Estate Solutions, published its own list in September that did not include Abilene, but listed the Beaumont-Port Arthur area and Amarillo as among the top five projected markets.
The total assessed values of Abilene properties continue to increase, but only slightly compared to past years, according to data published by the Taylor County Appraisal District.
In 2008, the total taxable value of property was $4.77 billion, while this year that total value increased to $4.85 billion, an increase of 1.7 percent that includes all properties and new construction.
Gary Earnest, chief operations officer for the district, said it’s difficult to comment on future appraised values.
“We’re so dependent on the market to indicate what kind of increase or decrease it represents, and so we have to wait until we’ve gone though that process, and then the market will indicate it,” said Earnest.
Monthly data can be volatile. The most recent monthly sales report from the Abilene Board of Realtors showed the median sales price of $99,500 for October, down 26.3 percent compared to the same month last year.
“Every day is a new day and you never know what you could wake up to,” Boswell said, but she added that a report like the one published by Local Market Monitor can still be meaningful.
“It gives consumers confidence to be able to see something on a positive note, something good being said about the market,” Boswell said.
