More good news about our local economy has been reported by the local paper the Austin American Statesman. First, the unemployment rate which was at about 11.5% due to the pandemic is now around 7.5%. Previous to the pandemic the unemployment rate was around 2.5%.

We have great news from the folks at ever expanding Amazon. This week they announced that they would be developing a sorting facility in Kyle that will employ 200. They have signed a lease for almost 380,000 square feet near Kyle Crossing which is near the Plum Creek development. I would imagine that those of you that have residential rentals in Kyle, and in Plum Creek in particular, will do very well, not that you aren’t doing well already! And in Buda, just north of Kyle, Amazon plans to open a distribution center that will have 305,000 square feet of leased space and is expected to bring hundreds of jobs. For those of you that are thinking of investing in our local residential real estate you might give Kyle and Buda a hard look.

Heading north of Kyle to Pflugerville, Amazon is proceeding with a development there that will bring 1,000 new jobs. Not to be left out of the dance is Round Rock, just north of Austin and Pflugerville where Amazon has signed a lease for 442,000 square feet and will have between 700 to 900 jobs.

Now the other big A in our area is Apple. Austin is the largest tech hub outside of its Cupertino location. Apple will have a hotel near Dallas Drive and West Parmer Lane that will be 75,500 square feet. This is in addition to the 133 acre campus on West Parmer Lane that will eventually employ 5,000 people.

So you pick: North or South? With all of this growth and expansion by these two heavy hitters it makes good sense to think about owning residential investments in these two areas. To see if you can benefit from the growth if these to “A’s” contact one of our licensed REALTORS and visit our website www.alpsmgmt.com. You will be glad that you did.