RESIDENTIAL HOME MARKET UP
AUSTIN (Austin Board of Realtors) – A total of 2,343 existing single-family homes were sold last month. The almost $570 million in sales represented a 6 percent increase in total monthly revenue from March 2006. The median price for single-family homes was just over $177,000, a 6 percent increase over last year's price. March homes spent an average of 65 days on the market, a 4 percent decrease from a year ago. Townhouse and condominium sales collected close to $60 million for the local economy, a 19 percent increase from last year. The median price also rose 14 percent from a year ago to $170,000.

AUSTIN APARTMENT OCCUPANCY RISES
AUSTIN (Austin Business Journal) – Apartment occupancy was at 93.7 percent at the end of 2006, and it is expected to reach 95 percent by the end of 2007. Occupancy in both Dallas and San Antonio held at 89.4 percent, while Houston was at 88.1 percent. Rents in Austin rose to 91 cents per square foot in 2006, up 7 percent from 85 cents in 2005. Rents were driven by increasing demand and a tightening of supply, according to Apartment Realty Advisors' (ARA) Texas Multifamily Report. Rents in San Antonio and Houston stand at about 77 cents, and Dallas is holding at 82 cents. The north and northwest Austin areas absorbed the most units at 873, followed by south Austin with 474. The most proposed units are also in the north with 2,879, followed by central Austin with 1,590. According to ARA, the Austin market currently has 140,400 apartments.

CAPITAL CITY INDUSTRIAL OCCUPANCY UP
AUSTIN (Austin Business Journal) – Industrial warehouse and flex markets improved slightly in the first quarter, according to a report from TIG Real Estate Services. Vacancy in the warehouse sector fell 1.2 percent from last year to 11.7 percent. In the flex market, vacancies fell 2.1 percent to 19.2 percent. The warehouse vacancy drop occurred despite overall negative absorption of 211,134 square feet, which is largely due to a recently vacated 230,000-square-foot manufacturing building in the southeast. Warehouse average net rent rose 14 cents per square foot (psf) during the quarter to $6.15 psf. Total marketwide inventory stands at 28.6 million square feet with about 1.1 million square feet under construction. The flex market absorbed 176,463 square feet, led by gains in the southeast. Rents rose 20 cents to $8.40 psf. Roughly 14.3 million square feet of flex inventory stands available marketwide, with 576,559 square feet under construction. "There are quite a bit of initial inquiries for large blocks of space from 25,000 to 75,000 square feet," says David Alsmeyer, principal with TIG Real Estate.

HOLLYWOOD: TRAVIS COUNTY STYLE
AUSTIN (globest.com) – With the goal of making Central Texas the next Hollywood, phase one of the $1.5 billion, 681-acre, mixed-use Villa Muse will break ground by summer in the Texas 130 corridor of eastern Travis County. The first phase will consist of the 200-acre, $125 million Villa Muse Studios, which will include a 50,000-square-foot soundstage, recording studios, a scoring stage and a 70,000-seat amphitheater. The studios are expected to be completed by the end of 2008. Villa Muse Inc. is partnering with Carpenter & Associates Inc. of Austin, which sold the land and will oversee construction and site work. Project designers are locally based Land Design Studio, Steve Durr Designs in Nashville; Studio Bau:ton in California; and Sam Toyoshima, Acoustics Design Office, a division of JVC Audio Engineering Research Center.