What's Happening in Fredericksburg, TX

What’s the real estate market doing?  How are things in Fredericksburg? Is it as bad there as “everywhere else”?  These are the top questions on the minds of buyers and sellers interested in Fredericksburg TX real estate.

As I’ve pointed out in the past, when it comes to real estate, “everywhere else” usually has strikingly little to do with wherever you are.  All real estate markets are “local”; meaning each market has it owns trends, peculiarities, strengths, weaknesses, etc.  Sure, macro economic trends have an effect (e.g. the “credit crisis”, foreclosure rates, etc.) on the local economy but not to the extent the media would have us believe.

It’s too easy to believe what you see on CNN, The Today Show or Good Morning America as a reflection of the condition of our real estate market.  As a result, a lot of buyers believe this is not a good time to buy and seller may not think this is a good time to sell.  The reality is that the Fredericksburg market is slowly returning to something that can be considered “normal”.  After years of double digit appreciation, short time-on-market and very healthy sale price to list price ratios we are experiencing more traditional (and “in balance”) market indicators…a “calming” of the recent “good times”.

Does the passing of the “good times” translate to “bad times”?  Hardly.  Nothing has fundamentally changed in Fredericksburg, TX.  We are still a top tourist destination; we’re still are close (but not too close) to the booming cities of Austin and San Antonio, we’re still “affordable” (by most state and national standards), we still offer a lifestyle that people yearn for and we’re still the Heart of the Texas Hill Country!

Do we face challenges, sure we do.  Top of the “challenges” list (in my humble opinion) is the lack of (and demand for) “affordable house”.  I’ve put this term in quotes due to the simple fact that “affordable” is a singularly relative term.  We face an increasingly acute problem of a very shallow labor pool.  A town that has (in large part) saddled its economic success upon the backs of a (relatively) low wage, tourist-based economy has done shockingly little to assure that this labor pool can actually afford to live in Fredericksburg.  Existing planning and zoning do little in the way of steering development into areas where affordable land can be bought to result in reasonably priced housing.   Solving this challenge is the next great step in the evolution of our community and is vital to our continued “success”.

We are not the first community to face this particular challenge, nor will we be the last.  I have faith that the leaders of our community will step up and create innovative ways to assure the continued vitality of what has made Fredericksburg such an attractive place to live.  Visit Fredericksburg, TX