April is almost here, temperatures are rising in the Austin metropolitan area, and so is the housing market.
But just as the triple-digit temperatures that residents in the state’s capital city will experience in the coming months are far from the triple-digit temperatures, local real estate experts say that despite the warmer market, Texas He says the situation is far from the state’s fever pitch. We are in the midst of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic.
“The market remains strong,” said Austin-area-based brokerage Wendy Cash. Century 21 Hellmann Stribling. “Buyers are still buying and sellers are still selling. We saw clearly last year that interest rates were rising and the economy was slowing, but buyers were putting the brakes on things and I wanted to wait and see what would happen.
“When interest rates plummeted in late fall, buyers came back out of the corner and started buying again. But I don’t think we’ll see anything like what happened during the pandemic happen again.”
From 2020 to mid-2022, austin metropolitan area It attracted attention due to the large influx of home buyers and the rapid rise in housing prices. In early March 2020, before the pandemic began, the average 90-day median list price for single-family homes in the area was $357,000. According to data, by late May 2022, this figure had increased to $650,000. Altos Research.
What followed was a rapid cooling, with the median list price dropping by more than $100,000 to $533,000 by mid-February 2023.
“In April and May 2022, first deceleration” said Austin-based Scott Michaels. compass needle Agent. “If you look at the numbers, 2023 was the lowest year for sales in the last 28 years, so it was a little strange compared to what we saw in the second half of 2020, all of 2021, and the first half of 2022.”
Austin has been in the news for the past few months due to the number of home buyers. I’m thinking of moving Local real estate experts in the metropolitan area say buyer demand remains strong.
“Interest rates have come down a little bit and settled down. We’re not seeing the volatility that we used to see, and I think that’s given buyers a little bit more incentive to take the plunge and buy a home,” Cash said. “And, of course, spring is kind of the traditional selling season. So there are usually more buyers in the spring. Plus, there weren’t as many people pulling the trigger as there were last fall. So we have that pent-up demand.”
Michaels also said his business still sees a steady stream of out-of-town buyers.
“People are still moving from all over the country, whether it’s first-time buyers or second-time buyers within Austin, or buyers from feeder markets like Dallas, Houston, and even California, New York, and Chicago. We’re seeing some people coming from the Seattle area right now,” Michaels said.
Agents highlight the stability of the Austin metropolitan area’s median list price, which has hovered around $550,000 since early November 2023, as evidence that market demand remains strong.
“Overall, although changes in the median sales price have been very gradual, the situation seems to have continued from the situation in 2023.Furthermore, contract sales increased by about 1%, so Overall it was a little more of the same,” housing economist Claire Locey said. Austin Board of Realtors.
“What we saw during the coronavirus pandemic was truly unsustainable in the long term. Low interest rates, working from home, vacation homes, and other artificial demands induced by the pandemic itself. , which really boosted demand that we wouldn’t have seen if it weren’t for the pandemic.”
Additionally, Austin’s median list price has remained stable even though inventory has increased significantly from the lows reached in the springs of 2021 and 2022.
As of March 22, 2024, the median 90-day average number of active single-family listings in the Austin metropolitan area was 6,895, up from an all-time low of 1,070 listings in April 2021. In November 2023, this number actually exceeded. 8,527 listings, the pre-pandemic level.
“I think we’re pretty balanced,” Cash said. “Technically, we’re still in a seller’s market. From an inventory standpoint, the market we’re in feels similar to last year.”
Much of the new inventory coming to market in Austin is geared toward first-time homebuyers, Rosie said.
“This is going to be an increasingly popular home buying season for first-time home buyers,” Rosie said. “There is only a growing inventory of homes on the market at the most affordable end, meaning those priced under $300,000. In February, overall new listing growth increased 45% year-over-year. However, home prices under $300,000 rose 27%.
Despite the increase in inventory, agents say they are still receiving multiple offers and seeing properties selling for more than the asking price.
“We do sometimes see homes overasking, but not in a situation like we did during the pandemic,” Cash said. “A home might be worth $10,000 or $20,000 or more, but multiple offers are more like two or three offers, not 15 or 20 offers.”
Michaels added that properties in popular areas can still sell within the first week on the market because they are priced correctly.
“If you’re in an area where there’s a lot of inventory on the market, it may tend to stay in stock a little longer,” Michaels said. “If you’re priced at a higher end, you might be able to hold the price a little bit longer because there’s a smaller pool of buyers, so that’s a challenge for a lot of high-end properties that are going up in value.”
Austin’s housing market may have cooled from its post-pandemic heyday, but local experts remain bullish about the future of the metro area and the housing market.
“Austin is just one of the top areas in the country that people want to live or move to for a variety of reasons,” Michaels said. “We have great employment growth, a vibrant city, beautiful rolling hills and lakes, but people are tired of sitting on the sidelines and waiting for the market to change. They’ve been waiting for almost two years now. They’re there, so they’re just ready to pull the trigger and jump out, and we’re here for them.”