According to the National Association of Realtors and Fannie Mae’s March 2012 National Housing Survey, 33% of Americans say they expect home prices to rise in the next 12 months, the highest level in more than a year.

The number of people who say now is a good time to buy is also on the rise, increasing to 73 percent—also the highest level in more than a year. The percentage who said it’s a good time to sell a home also increased one point to 14 percent in March.

Meanwhile, more Americans expect rental prices to rise and are projecting an increase by 4.1 percent over the next year, the highest number recorded to date.

“Conditions are coming together to encourage people to want to buy homes,” says Doug Duncan, Fannie Mae’s chief economist. “Americans’ rental price expectations for the next year continue to rise, reaching their record high level for our survey this month. With an increasing share of consumers expecting higher mortgage rates and home prices over the next 12 months, some may feel that renting is becoming more costly and that home ownership is more compelling house choice.”

According to Inman News and Realtor.com, Austin, Texas ranked high in the latest top 10 investment markets.  Built from Realtor.com data updated through February 2012, the report put Austin as the second highest current real estate markets to invest in. The top 10 list was built by analyzing the housing inventories, price trends and unemployment rates from the Bureau of Labor Statistics for 146 markets Realtor.com tracks.

Austin, Texas with a median list price of $229,500, boasted a 12 percent year-over-year increase, and low relative unemployment (6.3 percent as of December 2011).  Click on the link below for more details on the top 10 list

http://www.inman.com/news/2012/03/23/top-10-markets-invest-in

The Chairman of the Austin Board of Realtors stated, “For nine months in a row, Austin has seen year-over-year increases in sales volume. In addition, we also saw a modest increase in the median home price in February 2012, which could indicate more competition among buyers for a shrinking inventory of homes.”

In February 2012, the Austin market had 4.2 months of inventory, 1.5 months less than February 2011.  However, there were also 25% more pending sales.  On average, homes spent 86 days on the market in February 2012, 12 days less than February 2011.  The higher demand and lower supply of homes bodes well for home values in Austin and surrounding areas.

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Starting June 1, loans above $625,500 premiums will see an increase of an additional 0.25 percent of a percentage point, bringing the total premium costs up to 1.5 percent of the loan amount.

FHA also announced it will raise a fee for the upfront mortgage premium by 0.75 of a percentage point, which will now total 1.75 percent of the loan amount. The new fees will also apply to home owners who want to refinance their mortgages except for those FHA borrowers utilizing the streamline refinance program to reduce their interest rate.

http://horizonrealtyaustin.com/agent-docs/go/122af16958c6459f51d896560f609b3d/

Austin, Texas, ranked second, beating Seattle despite a lower median salary: $66,600 compared to Seattle’s $74,900. Austin’s large number of available startup jobs gave it the edge.

Seattle ranked third in the study, and had the third-highest median annual salary. Washington, D.C., had the second-highest median salary, with $75,400, but ranked ninth because it had a relatively low number of available jobs.

Payscale.com created the rankings using its database of salary and career information for the country’s largest metro areas.

Following are this year’s top 10 cities and their median startup pay. The U.S. median pay is $63,800.

1. San Francisco, $84,400
2. Austin, Texas, $66,600
3. Seattle, $74,900
4. Salt Lake City, Utah, $61,400
5. Denver, Colo., $65,300
6. Boston, Mass., $74,100
7. Raleigh, N.C., $63,900
8. Atlanta, Ga., $64,800
9. Washington D.C., $75,400
10. Los Angeles, $69,000

The Chairman of the Austin Board of REALTORS, commented, “It is encouraging to see last year’s momentum continue into the New Year. January marks the eighth straight month in which the volume of home sales in Austin has outpaced the previous year and the inventory of homes has decreased.”

Austin-area homes spent an average of 85 days on the market in January 2012, eight days less than the same month of the prior year. Compared to January 2011, the Austin market also featured six percent fewer new listings, 19 percent fewer active listings and 16 percent more pending sales in January 2012. The Austin market had 4.1 months of inventory in January 2012, or 1.4 months less than January 2011.

Increased demand and decreased supply is a strong indicator of property values on the rise!