Brownsville housing market largely escaping national woes

Brownsville and South Padre Island home sales were up nearly 35 percent in November compared to the same period in 2006, according to data for the Real Estate Center at Texas A&M University.

The upswing in sales was perhaps an aberration, however, it was more likely an indicator of things to come in 2008, said Ted Jones, chief economist for Stewart Title Guaranty Inc.

After all, home sales for the first 11 months of the year were off less than 1 percent compared to the same period in record-breaking 2006, which had 1,177 sales.

While 2007 sales are unlikely to reach those in 2006, through November they had already surged passed 2005, at 918.

“Brownsville is off about 7 percent from a year ago, which was an all time high,” Jones said. “But, 2007 was remarkably better than 2005.”

Jones attends over 100 speaking engagements around the country every year. Earlier this week the Brownsville-South Padre Island Board of Realtors flew Jones in to speak about the economy.

Brownsville has fared far better than much of the nation, which is experiencing a housing slowdown and mortgage crisis, Jones said.

Residential building permits for single family homes dropped 7 percent in 2006 to 2,852, a positive sign that Brownsville’s housing market is not overbuilt, Jones added.

“In fact, it’s still a great time to get a fixed rate mortgage, with one of the lowest interest rates in years” Jones said.

Freddie Mac, which released a Primary Mortgage Survey this week, reported that the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 5.69 percent, down from 6.23 percent a year ago.

Nora Pompa, executive officer of the Brownsville-South Padre Island Board of Realtors, said Jones’ speech was just the sort of encouragement local realtors need.

“Compared to the rest of the country we’re not bad at all,” Pompa said. “Sales are out there, but you have to go out and get them.”

Nilo Ortiz, a Realtor and owner of ERA Sunrise Realty, said his business has slowed down considerably over the last couple years.

For Ortiz, 2005 was a banner year. In 2006, his business dropped off nearly 50 percent compared to 2005, dropping another 10 percent in 2007.

Although barely into 2008, Ortiz is predicting that sales will pick up again.

“For us this year is starting good,” Ortiz said. “Maybe I’m an optimist: I predict 2008 is going to be a good year.”