October 2017 Market Report
The October 2017 Central Texas Housing Market Report is out from the Austin Board of REALTORS®. Single-family home sales increased across the Austin-Round Rock Metropolitan Statistical Area last month compared to October 2016. However, single-family sales were down again by 1.7% year-over-year. Low housing inventory is a continuing constraint on sales:
Brandy Guthrie, 2017 President of the Austin Board of REALTORS® commented, “The Austin-Round Rock housing market continues to slightly outperform last year’s home sales activity, keeping 2017 on-pace for another record year for home sales. At the same time, low housing inventory levels along with constrained housing development activity throughout the city of Austin are preventing home sales growth at the city level.”
Here are the basic stats on single-family home sales for October 2017 for the City of Austin and the greater Austin area:
Investors looking to meet the demand are finding it difficult in Austin:
“Developers and builders are beginning to experiment with lower-cost, higher-density products between $200,000 and $300,000 in suburban markets, where products like townhomes and smaller single-family homes can be built more easily,” said Vaike O’Grady, Austin Regional Director for Metrostudy. “Shortages of vacant developed lots and regulatory hurdles in Austin make it difficult for meaningful housing development activity to occur within Austin’s city limits.”
This is a major issue to be addressed in CodeNEXT, the first major overhaul of Austin's land development code in 30 years:
“Next to CodeNEXT, the City’s selection of a new city manager will have the single-greatest impact on the direction of our region’s future and the sustainability of Austin's housing market, so it’s critical that local community stakeholders and business leaders have the opportunity to weigh in on this important decision,” concluded Guthrie. “Austin deserves a city manager who isn’t afraid to tackle the issues impeding our city’s development with bold strategies and creative solutions. The Austin Board of REALTORS® will look to our new City Manager to put a leadership team in place that will bring the cultural and operational changes needed to move forward.”
You can view the full report from ABoR here.
