Expert forecasters like Metrostudy think that the rest of 2006 will continue to remain a good year for San Marcos home sales—as long as we remain realistic about inevitable market fluctuations and get back to the fundamentals like job growth and the state of the national economy.

Consumer confidence is important to the housing industry” says Rude of Metrostudy. “It starts with the gross domestic product (GDP). This is the first time since the 1980s we’ve had that kind of consecutive growth. It’s a good picture that should stay stable.

That stability means that more consumers are more likely to buy a home, especially if consumer confidence levels remain high. Metrostudy also tracks the apartment market—including towns like San Marcos–and it’s a market that forecasters say is critical to the state of single-family housing. “It’s important to go from there to housing, because we need to see how healthy that market is,” he says. “If rents continue to increase, more people will consider purchasing homes.”

Gray Buffington, President of Buffington Mortgage has seen the apartment costs effect why San Marcos renters pursue home ownership: “In the recent past, low interest rates were what drew renters into homes in San Marcos. Now we’ve seen increasing rental rates and, therefore, many renters finding it more cost-effective to buy their own home. We’ve had more mortgage requests for San Marcos this year than we’ve seen in the past.”

And rent continues to increase. Already in 2006 “Building Central Texas” states they are seeing both increase occupancy and increased rates. For example, a 1,000 square foot apartment that was renting for $800 per month in 2004 is renting for over $1000.00 a month now—and that is significant.