You've just been told by your boss that in a few short weeks, you'll be moving down to Amarillo, Texas to open a new branch of the company. Promotions are exciting, but relocation is nerve wracking. You worry if you will get a good price for your Scarborough real estate, whether you'll find a house you like in Amarillo, whether your kids will find friends at their new school. To alleviate these worries, you need to research. It all begins with knowing the current market conditions in Amarillo. These figures are accurate to late October of 2009.
As you know, if you've been keeping up to date on the news in the past year or so, the North American continent is in the grip of a recession that has seen both the Canadian and American governments handing out stimulus packages to everyone from car manufacturers to developers of Oakville, Ontario real estate. What this means for you as a relocator is that you'll be dealing with a buyers market. You'll get a great deal on the new house in Amarillo, but you may have trouble finding a buyer for your current house in your old city.
The average price per square foot in Amarillo has only dropped about 2% in the last year, which means that Amarillo's home values aren't suffering as greatly from the mortgage crisis. In fact, the mean, or middle, price of a home in Amarillo has actually increased since this time last year by just over 11%, a feat which even Leslieville homes in Toronto would have trouble matching. This is good news for you, since you'll be buying now when prices are still low but you can be confident they'll appreciate while you own your home.
Overall, more homes are selling in Amarillo now than were selling a year ago. There are about 38% more homes on the market now than there were last year. It may seem like everyone is trying to sell up and move to a Toronto condo instead, but what this actually means is that Amarillo home owners are starting to feel like the recession is over. Those who were sitting on a house they wanted to sell, waiting until prices went up again, are starting to come out of their shells.
The average listing price in Amarillo right now is around $200,000 and the median, or middle, sale price is a much lower $51,000. Different zip codes are listing at different prices, however, with the most popular ones occupying a range between $107,000 and $323,000. This is approximately equivalent to the prices of standard size Mississauga condominiums and single family homes in the outer suburbs, respectively, if you want to use a Toronto comparison.
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