Rumors and News from Austin and Dripping Springs

Keller Williams Realty Inc. has assumed a Southern Arizona real estate group, adding 375 workers and seven offices.

The Austin-based real estate franchise, which become the third largest in the United States, operates 668 offices and has close to 77,000 agents. Officials said in a release Tuesday the company launched Keller Williams Southern Arizona, taking over a group formerly with Realty Executives.

The new division includes the former Realty Executives offices, agents and staff.

“I am so thrilled to be a part of the Keller Williams family,” said Nancy Colvin, operations manager for the new Kolb La Playa, Ariz. office. “Joining forces with Keller Williams Realty is a huge benefit for our agents and was the best decision for our team as a whole.”

Keller opened 30 new franchises last year and increased the number of closed contracts 16 percent. From 2006 to 2008, the company increased its associate count by 52 percent, while market share for its offices grew 83 percent. Agent gross commission income went up 35 percent, the company said.

The Austin-Round Rock area tied for first on a list of large metros where the recession is easing.

Central Texas tied Washington D.C. in the Forbes.com ranking that compiles job growth and real estate industry improvement, among other indicators. Washington has one of the lowest unemployment rates in the nation, 6.2 percent, and the city produced more goods and services than another other in 2008.

Austin has also maintained relatively lower jobless rates, though the number increased to 7.6 percent last month from 7 percent, according to the Texas Workforce Commission. Statewide, the rate was unchanged at 8.2 percent from December to January, compared to 9.7 percent nationally.

Austin and Washington D.C. also benefit from their high government job generation, according to Forbes. The number of Central Texas jobs increased just shy of 1 percent between 2007 and 2009, more than any other city included in the research.

Dallas came in second on the ranking behind Austin. The number of jobs there are expected to increase more than 7 percent in the next three years. San Antonio and Houston also made the top 10 list.

Job growth projections were based on information from Moody's. The listing also considered median home sale price changes and Metropolitan Gross Domestic Product.

Gasoline prices in Austin inched up again this week, hitting an average $2.55, according to the AAA Texas Weekend Gas Watch Report.

The average price for a gallon of unleaded regular is up 2 cents in Austin this week, following a 6 cent increase last week. This price is well above the same week last year, when fuel stations averaged $1.81.

Houston and San Antonio have the cheapest gas this week at about $2.52 per gallon.

Overall for the state, the average price increased by 4 cents to $2.57, while the national average went up 3 cents to $2.71.

Facebook is creating 200 jobs in Austin, thanks to a $1.4 million incentive from the state of Texas.

The move will be the first major U.S. expansion outside of Palo Alto, Calif., where the company is headquartered, according to officials. It is investing about $3.1 million to set up operations in Texas, according to Gov. Rick Perry's office.

Facebook employs about 800 people. It reported about $50 million in revenue last year.

“Facebook continues to grow and Austin, with its deep talent pool, would allow us to hire the high-caliber employees we need to properly serve the people, advertisers and developers that rely on our service,” Facebook Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg said.

Gov. Perry said the new jobs will enhance the Central Texas’ robust technology industry and strengthen the economy.

Austin City Council members will decide Thursday whether to add another 4,664 acres to Austin Energy's growing stockpile of potential wind farm land.

If approved, the 30-year lease would bring the utility company's total West Texas holdings to 22,000 acres. A spokeswoman for the group said other contingencies must be resolved before turbines actually hit the ground, but construction could begin as early as 2013. The city would pay about $50,000 a year for the land.

The utility company currently supplies about 12 percent of its electricity from renewable sources, mostly wind, but the power is purchased from third parties. If the 22,0000 acres are built-out, it would be the first time Austin Energy produced wind power first hand. The group hopes to generate at least 200 megawatts.

One of the biggest issues weighing on the project is whether Texas can construct infrastructure to move the wind power from West Texas to the rest of the state. Austin Energy has contributed about 4 percent of what it would cost to build a transmission lines network, according to officials.

Austin Energy is racing to meet climate protection goals that increase renewable energy sources to 30 percent of electricity needs by 2020, or 35 percent if the council approves a revised plan sometime next month.

The Austin area saw 884 homes sold during January, up 5 percent from January 2009, according to the Multiple Listing Service report by the Austin Board of Realtors. The median price for a home in the Austin area during January remained stable, up 1 percent to $179,250 compared with the same month last year.

“At this point, we can look back and see that January 2009 was the low point of this cycle,” said John Horton, chairman of the Austin Board of Realtors. “With steady improvement throughout 2009 that continued in January 2010, we can see that we’re one year into the recovery in Austin. … That it’s the kind of recovery we want — one that is steady, stable and consistent.”

The volume of single-family home sales in Austin improved steadily throughout 2009. During the first half of the year, the gap in year-over-year sales volume closed consistently, reaching levels similar to 2008 during the summer peak, with the exception of a dip in August, according to ABoR. During the fall 2009, sales volume began outperforming 2008 and surged in October and November, spurred by the original deadline for the first-time homebuyer tax credit. In December 2009, sales volume again achieved a modest increase of 5 percent compared with December 2008.

Horton said the area is already seeing positive signs in sales volume and price appreciation. “Those factors, combined with the population growth and additional jobs economists expect for our area in 2010, bode well for the long-term value of Austin real estate.”

Construction on the new HEB in Dripping Springs is moving forward at a very quick pace.  The slab has been poured and cranes were seen erecting steel supports and trusses this week.  The expected opening in June may not be as far fetched as some have believed. 

Austin Bergstrom International Airport had a decent showing in a recent ranking of passenger satisfaction among national competitors.

J.D. Power and Associates rated ABI fifth best of 25 small airports – those with fewer than 10 million passengers per year — in its 2010 North America Satisfaction Study, released today.

Indianapolis International led the small airport list and San Jose International trailed the pack.

The survey, based on responses from more than 12,100 passengers who flew last year, named Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport as the high flyer among large airports with 30 million or more passengers a year and Kansas City International topped medium airports with 10 million or fewer passengers.

Overall, J.D. Power said the survey showed that passenger satisfaction with airports lags other areas of the travel industry. It attributed this to a failure to consistently meet passenger expectations for such basic services as prompt baggage delivery, airport comfort and ease of navigating the airport.

J.D. Power, based in Westlake Village, Calif., conducts a range of customer satisfaction research and provides consulting services.

An estimated two out of five Texans do not have Internet access at home, making the state the 44th worst connected in the U.S., the U.S. Census Bureau reported Wednesday.

The Lone Star State narrowing beat its northern neighbor, Oklahoma, though Austin is comparably more connected than most Texas cities. An estimated 81 percent of Austin households have home Internet, according to a Scarborough Research study last year.

The Texas numbers also varied drastically across ethnicity. About 80 percent of Asian households said they are connected to the Internet, compared with 73 percent of white households and 53 percent Hispanic households.

The only states ranked below Oklahoma were New Mexico, Arkansas, South Carolina, Alabama and Mississippi. New Hampshire was rated as being the most connected, followed by Alaska and Utah.