The question becomes, if there is a bubble, what could make it pop? Tech jobs leaving the area and not creating salaries that support existing house prices?
> Tech jobs leaving the area and not creating salaries that support existing house prices?
Sure. But other things could, too -- bubble-driven overbuilding of new housing and then having the influx of jobs stop could do it, especially if updates to shared infrastructure were deferred and the tax revenue to support them didn't materialize because the growth stopped -- the new houses would sell at lower prices because the new higher-paid workers they were made to appeal to wouldn't be there, but the total infrastructure demand would be similar, adversely affecting property desirability.
There's probably other scenarios -- and I'm not saying it is a bubble or that any particular popping scenario is likely (I don't know Austin that well), just that the fact that purchases don't seem to be mortgage-fueled doesn't mean that there isn't a bubble.
Sure. But other things could, too -- bubble-driven overbuilding of new housing and then having the influx of jobs stop could do it, especially if updates to shared infrastructure were deferred and the tax revenue to support them didn't materialize because the growth stopped -- the new houses would sell at lower prices because the new higher-paid workers they were made to appeal to wouldn't be there, but the total infrastructure demand would be similar, adversely affecting property desirability.
There's probably other scenarios -- and I'm not saying it is a bubble or that any particular popping scenario is likely (I don't know Austin that well), just that the fact that purchases don't seem to be mortgage-fueled doesn't mean that there isn't a bubble.