February 2017 Market Report
In February 2017, the median price for single-family homes in the City of Austin remained unchanged from the year prior at $330,000. Overall, the Central Texas housing market is beginning to normalize to more stable market conditions.
Here are the basic stats on single-family homes sales for February 2017 for the City of Austin and the Greater Austin Area:
Below are excerpts of from the press release from the Austin Board of REALTORS®.
The February 2017 Central Texas Housing Market Report....showed a slowdown in single-family home sales growth throughout the Austin Round Rock Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) in February 2017, indicating that the Central Texas housing market is beginning to normalize to more stable market conditions.
From Brandy Guthrie, 2017 President of the Austin Board of REALTORS®:
“The Central Texas housing market is just now beginning to catch up to itself after years of unprecedented sales growth. It’s important to remember that current figures are being compared to very strong housing market activity in 2016, so a decline in home sales growth does not automatically mean that the market is softening.
Mark Sprague, State Director of Information Capital for Independence Title, agrees:
“Low inventory levels, high home prices and slowing job growth across the region are preventing a resurgence of the record-breaking numbers experienced the last two years, but overall the region’s housing market remains very strong. The Central Texas housing market is normalizing into a more stable market.”
Note that this echoes a sentiment I expressed about 7 months ago in a BP post here. Where is said, among other things,
As prices rise and rise, the pool of potential buyers for those properties shrinks. The median income earning family in Austin has been priced out to the suburbs, fueling the rapid growth of Cedar Park/Leander, Buda/Kyle, and other outlying communities in recent years. Many of these former and would-be Austin residents have been replaced the tremendous influx of new residents, many of them drawn here by careers in the high-tech and creative sectors and comparatively lower cost of living. However, even they have a price at which Austin housing becomes less attractive.
On the City of Austin and the greater Metro Area:
Single-family home sales in the Austin-Round Rock MSA were essentially flat in February 2017, increasing 0.9 percent year-over-year to 1,829 home sales. Single-family home sales declined from February 2016 in many cities surrounding Austin, with the exceptions of Buda (up 30 percent year-over-year to 26 home sales), Cedar Park (up 20.7 percent year-over-year to 70 home sales), Leander (up 8.8 percent year-over-year to 62 home sales) and Austin (up 6.4 percent year-over-year to 617 home sales).
“Home sales growth in the city of Austin is currently being driven by the sales of single-family homes priced $750,000 and higher, particularly within the luxury housing market,” added Guthrie.
The median price for single-family homes in the five-county MSA rose 6.5 percent to $287,000 in February 2017. During the same time frame, the monthly housing inventory for single-family homes in the Austin-Rock MSA increased 0.1 months to 2.1 months.
What do you think? I have access to lots more data (e.g., specific zip codes). Let me know if there's anything else you'd like to see.
