They saw the rezoning as an encroachments of apartments into established neighborhoods. Casey’s proposal faced petition drive insisting on a moratorium against zoning single-family property for multi-family use, so a couple of days ago, the city council has ruled to reject Casey’s rezoning request.

“It’s not a negotiation. [With platting], you set your standards and if they are met, under state law, they are statutorily approved,” the city’s Development Services director, Matthew Lewis said in a statement. “They are not asking for a land use or zoning change and they say they are not asking for plat variances or subdivision variances.”

Lewis states the city’s low-density residential zoning allows six homes per acre as long as lots are at least 6,000 square feet, at least 50 feet wide and have at least 35 feet of street frontage.

The agreed price is $2 million for 15 acres and the buyer is Pecan Renewable Energy Park, which plans to build two 120,000-square-feet warehouse and manufacturing facilities to be leased to potential renewable energy businesses working in solar, LED lightning or wind turbine parts production. Plans for the 15 acres call for eventually creating a total of 720,000 sf of space.

Another deal that recently got green light from the Council is the purchase of 6 acres for $600,000 by a newly formed entity called Renewable Property Group LL. The plan is to develop eight buildings for a total up to 48,000 square feet of office space, mainly used for the headquarters of Renewable Resource Consultants, which has offices in Round Rock.

“Right now we are committed to building a 6,000-square-foot building,” said Bill Bong , a principal owner of Renewable Property Group. “If the economic conditions allow, we will build a second one right away. We are excited about the opportunity and looking forward to moving in.”

Last year’s 19,220 sales marked the first annual increase in sales since 2006.

The Austin Board of Realtors said the area’s 1,581 sales in December market the month as the seven in a row with increasing sales. The median sales price for the month was stable at $187,940 down 1% from December 2010.

The same report highlights that the market is giving strong signs of healing, as the days spent on the market slowly shrinks: homes spent an average of 89 days on the market in December, nine days fewer than the prior December.

The same time the housing supply shrank too, as the number of homes on the market dropped 19% last month, reaching 6,605 active listings only.

“With stable prices, stronger sales volume and more pending sales this month compared to December 2010, we’re encouraged to see the market showing strong demand leading into January,” said Leonard Guerrero, chairman of the Austin Board of Realtors.

The median home price last year was $193,000, unchanged from 2010.

“We are pleased to see Austin’s real estate market end the year on a positive note,” Guerrero said.

“With a surge in sales volume over the second half of 2011 and strong demand evident in December, we’re optimistic about the health of our market for the coming year,” Guerrero said.

One of the reports was issued by CoStar, a company that track’s the Austin-area office market. According to the numbers published by the company, net absorption for the overall Austin office market was positive 493,706 square-feet in the fourth quarter of 2011. That compares to positive 683,912 square-feet in Q3, positive 467,382 sf in Q2 and positive 137,236 sf in the first quarter of last year.

The report highlights that Class A office market had a net absorption of positive 253,986 sf in the fourth quarter 2011, while the Class B office market recorded net absorption of positive 193,730 square feet during the same quarter, compared to positive 99,384 sf in Q3 of 2011.

The report goes on an gives an inside look at the Class C office market. According to CoStar’s research, Class C office market recorded net absorption of positive 45,990 square feet in the fourth quarter 2011 compared to positive 45,163 square feet in Q3 of 2011.

Regarding Austin’s central business district, the CoStart report says it was absolutely positive with 36,153 square feet in the fourth quarter 2011 compared to negative absorption of 12,301 sf in the second quarter 2011.

- according to the Austin Business Journal, U.S. Nail & Spa renewed its 1,020 square foot lease at the Shops at Avery Ranch, Phase I located at 10510 W. Parmer Lane. The landlord was represented by Matt Marshall of StoneCrest Investments.

- Another contract renewal was recorded with Avery Fine Wines & Spirits who renewed their lease of 2,000 square foot at the Shops at Avery Ranch. The same Matt Marshall of StoneCrest Investments represented the landlord and the tenant in the negotiations.

- The Shops at orion has Edward Jones for another year with their 1,022 square foot lease. The entity is located at 11215 S. I-35. The deal was signed with the help of the same Matt Marshall of StoneCrest Investments.

- As the Austin office market gives stronger sign of revival office leases are more frequent or at least the tenants extend their lease. This is the case of The Whitaker Companies Inc. who extended its lease of 3,638 square feet of office space at 1250 South Capital of Texas Highway. Carl Condon of Commercial Texas LLC represented the tenant and Ralph Bistline of Brandywine Realty Trust represented the landlord.

The property was under a Californian family ownership, which recently sold the real estate to entities based in Dallas and California. Firmus and Maylar LP are based in Dallas, Barton Creek Capital is based in Austin and Asset Management Consultants is an entity from California.

According to public records the property was appraised recently to $2,223,402 but the purchase price of the 248 unit apartment complex wasn’t disclosed.

However, Austin Business Journal’s sources say the property located at 8220 Research Blvd is about 60% full.

The joint venture has purchased the property with plans to make significant renovation, which should be finished between late 2012 or early 2013.

The same report highlights that the outstanding mortgage foreclosure rate rose 0.03% compared to September a year ago, when the foreclosure rate was 1.05%.

Furthermore, the serious mortgage delinquency rate dropped in September to 3.13% from 3.44% a year ago.

Foreclosure activity in Austin was 2.40% lower than the national foreclosure rate of 3.48% in September 2011.

Austin’s steady foreclosure rate is due partly to a lack of overbuilding during boom times, unlike much of the country, according to experts.

The initial $33.4 million investment by the New York-based developer was backed up by a $15.4 million tax credit from the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs and another $3 million from the city of Austin’s Affordable GO Bonds.

The new units are targeted to individuals and families making less than 60 percent of median family income, said Saldana. The development will work with nonprofit group Front Steps, an organization that works to transition individuals out of homelessness. Around 15 homeless individuals will participate in the program, Austin Business Journal has learned.

The report underscores Austin home prices are on their way to recovery, as a 0.6% rise is projected between the second quarter of 2012 and the second quarter of 2013.

“Austin did not get caught up in the housing market bubble. Over the past ten years, the ratio of median price to median family income has been very steady, between 2.5 and 2.7,” said David Stiff, chief economist at Fiserv.

“Texas has stronger mortgage lending regulations than many other states,” Stiff added.

According to his comment regarding Fiserv’s numbers, the doesn’t think that shadow inventory will represent a huge problem in the Austin area, because mortgage default and foreclosure rates are much lower than in other areas across the country.

“Foreclosures account for only 14 percent of the 5,298 total listings in Austin, that’s a much lower percentage than in the markets with the largest home price crashes,” Stiff said.

Fiserv reported that in the rest of the country, the double-dip in home prices that began in 2010 continued into the spring and summer of 2011.