AUSTIN, Texas—According to the latest Central Texas Housing Market Report released by the Austin Board of REALTORS® (ABoR), the Central Texas housing market continues to exhibit strength despite economic challenges and shrinking housing inventory. In September, home sales across the Austin-Round Rock MSA soared 31.5% year over year to 3,892 sales. Historically this time of year home sales are slower, but because of decreased activity during the shelter-in-place orders due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the summer selling season extended into September. Continue reading
Tag Archives: Markets
Austin Boasts Record Setting Year and Decade for Real Estate Sales
The Austin Board of REALTORS® has reported that Central Texas REALTORS® sold more homes in 2019, than any other year on record. The December and Year-End Central Texas Housing Report echos the findings noting 33,084 in home sales and home sales and $13,158,737,333 in sales volume.
Austin area closes decade with record-breaking $13B in home sales: Single-family home sales increased by 84% since 2010
Real Estate News for December 2019
For data lovers out there, here are some numbers to know whether you are moving to Austin or within Austin. The Central Texas real estate market is headed for record-breaking sales this year. November home sales throughout the five-county Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) pushed the year-to-date total to 30,561 sales, which is approximately 300 homes shy of last year’s total sales volume.
From the Austin Board of Realtors – Each county experienced a double-digit increase in home sales; the city of Austin slightly rose 4.5% to 670 sales, according to the Austin Board of REALTORS® latest Central Texas Housing Market Report. Continue reading
Austin Housing Trends
How does Austin stack up?
Click the link below which will take you to a document with national real estate and local Austin housing information that you may find useful whether you’re in the market for a home, thinking about selling your home, or just interested in homeowner issues in general.
The report includes results comparing the Austin real estate market to the rest of the United States. Mortgage data, employment findings, building permit numbers and pricing trends are posted.
Austin Housing Inventory
The Hottness Factor
What areas are hot right now? Honestly, I haven’t come across a section in Austin that I would truly call a Buyer’s market right now. Inventory seems to be moving no matter what price point you are looking in, provided you are within Austin. There are other areas surrounding Austin that are feeling the affects of neighborhood foreclosures and short sales, which drive the prices down simply because there is an over saturation of Seller’s wanting to sell, versus Buyers looking to buy.
When I find areas with Average Days on the Market being over 6 months that is where I classify a neighborhood to be a Buyer’s market. Areas that stay on the market for 4 – 6 months are considered ‘neutral’, and less that 4 months are considered a Seller’s Market.
The only exception to this rule is when I am referring to homes priced over $600,000. There are simply less Buyers able to afford a home in that price point, so the inventory tends to sit a little longer.
Whether I am working with a Buyer or Seller to determine market price, I certainly take into account how hot a neighborhood is. I take the last 3 months of inventory and add the sold and pending listings. I then add the active listings up and determine the average amount of months it is going to take to ‘sell’ that inventory. The lower the number – the hotter the neighborhood. How hot is Cat Mountain right now? It has about 6 months of inventory. While Parkwood, in South Austin, has enough inventory to last 2 months.
Understand, the overall condition of a home certainly plays an important role in how fast a house will sell. Looking at inventory flow is just an additional data point I like to refer to.
Markets are Local
I had 5 people come to my open house on Sunday, which is 5 more than most of my colleagues. Most were surprised since the house I was holding open listed for $649,000, in comparison, their properties were priced much less. As I have noted in the past, markets are local.
Within the ‘market’ I was in, my home was the exception – not the rule.
In another area of Austin, that same house may be perceived as expensive, but in Rollingwood and Westlake Hills combined, I was in the 4th lowest priced house out of a total of 16 available for purchase. In fact, my house, was one of only 8 homes listed for under a million dollars.
So, for my market, this house was a bit of a head turner because of the price, which led to my open house traffic on a rainy, cold afternoon.