Existing Homes
As of August 2004, existing home sales in San Antonio have had a strong year. The average price is $154,242, an 8 percent increase from 2003. The median price is $127,700, a 5 percent increase from the previous year. The number of sales of existing single-family homes is up by 15 percent year-to-date in 2004. The condominium and townhouse market has experienced a similar rise in value over last year, with the average sales price at $87,088, a 5 percent increase from the year before. The median price of $69,400 also represents a 5 percent increase from 2003. The number of condominium closings has risen 19 percent year-to-date over the previous year. These numbers continue the trend over the past five years of increasing sales and an increasing price per square foot.

New Homes
In the third quarter of 2004, San Antonio housing starts reached a record high, jumping to 17 percent above the number of houses constructed during the same period in 2003. More than 12,000 starts are expected in 2004, with housing prices rising three to four percent this year and next, according to Jack Inselmann, vice president of Metrostudy’s U.S. Central Division. “The San Antonio housing market is solid and stable, and we expect another year at, or above, last year’s record pace,” said Inselmann.

Multi-Family Housing
Of great interest in the 2005 San Antonio apartment market are the large numbers of new apartment units that are either already under construction or are about to break ground. In contrast to the development pattern exhibited in years 2000 through 2004, the bulk of these new projects are conventionally financed and are considered to be “market rate” properties that will end up with higher rental rates when completed.

Consequently, the locations of most of the new units are in higher-income North Side sectors, with over 30 percent of the approximately 8,000 new units being located in the North West, close to the South Texas Medical Center, the University of Texas at San Antonio campus and the new regional shoppingcenter at La Cantera.

Many developers appear to be preparing for the eventual upward movement of mortgage interest rates. When this occurs, they believe it will slow the record level of home buying that has occurred in recent years and keep more renters in apartments instead of opting to purchase a home. Citywide, occupancies have held steady and strong throughout 2004 and will probably end the year in the same mid-90th percentile range that has been reported in surveys for the past three years. However, rent discounts are still prevalent and are expected to continue, since the new projects being built will all be competing for renters.

The construction of the Toyota plant in South Central Bexar County is beginning to attract interest in the future housing needs of the South Side. Also, as housing prices have escalated in the IH-10 West corridor all the way to Boerne, developers, homebuyers and renters are now beginning to look westward out Highway 90 West as well as out IH-35 South for more affordable choices. Areas toward the North East, out IH-35 North and around Schertz/Cibolo, are also becoming more popular for the same reasons.

Source: Special thanks to Francis Beauchamp, Kuper Realty Co.; Luci Cockrell, Apartment Choice Locators, Div. Cockrell Realtors; Kimberly S. Gatley, REOC Partners Ltd.; and Jack Inselmann, Metrostudy.