Central Texas Keeps Growing
I posted a few days ago about the big population increase in Texas, but now I have some other stats more specific to Central Texas, which includes Austin. If you understand anything about real estate markets, you know that job growth and population growth drive real estate.
Back in 2002, after the tech bubble exploded, Travis County, which is home to Austin, lost over 11,000 residents. We hadn't seen a decrease in population in ages before that. The result for the housing market was a rapid run-up in the number of active listings, a much longer time to sell and home prices were very flat. In 2006, Travis County grew by over 9,400 residents. Williamson and Hays Counties grew in 2006 by over 11,500 and over 3,500 residents each. That was greater growth than our area saw at the height of the tech boom in 2000 when Travis County had a population increase of over 8,500 people and Williamson County grew by over 11,300.
Population projections by the Capital Area Council of Governments, show Travis County to grow to almost 1.9 million residents and Williamson to grow to over 1.15 million residents by 2040. It projects the city of Austin to grow from an estimated 2006 population of over 650,000 to over 1.6 million in 2040.
Job growth in Central Texas slowed a bit in November to an annulized rate of around 3%. That was down from a rate of almost 5% a year earlier. Even though the rate of job growth declined, 3% is still pretty healthy.