REAL ESTATE REPORT
The Austin housing market is outperforming national trends, latest report shows
“Austin remains resilient and able to withstand broader economic turbulence more effectively," said ABoR housing economist Clare Losey.
Housing inventory is on the rise, as is the number of days houses spend on the market, while prices are steadily falling. That spells another month of a balancing act in the Austin-Round Rock housing market, according to the latest report from the Austin Board of Realtors (ABoR).
“This is still a market that is seeing lots of activity, just not at a record-setting pace, and that is to be expected given broader economic trends,” said 2023 ABoR president Ashley Jackson. “Home prices are moderating, pending sales are holding strong, and homes on the market last month are selling closer to list price. These are all signs of a market that is still balancing and doing so in a healthy way.”
Housing inventory has continued to increase from March to April, now at 3.2 months (active listings for the month divided by sales), and homes are spending 53 days longer on the market now than they were in April of 2022.
An additional sign of a stabilizing market in Austin comes from a recent comparison to declining home sales across the country. The National Association of Realtors' latest data from March of 2023 showed nationwide home sales falling 22.7 percent, but that was not the case in Central Texas, where home sales only fell 14 percent over the same period. The report said these findings demonstrate the “resilience of the region’s economy.”
In Austin proper, April home sales fell by 31 percent, and median home prices fell 11 percent to $565,000. Though pending sales also declined last month, active listings spiked to 2,357.
Active listings in all five Central Texas counties continued to skyrocket from last month’s report. While home sales dropped in most counties, Hays County saw a 1.1 percent increase in April.
Median house prices are still dropping across the Central Texas region, though houses in Travis County remain the most expensive at $537,500. Hays saw the largest year-over-year price drop at 16.9 percent, with homes priced around $416,500. Median home prices in Caldwell County dropped 15.1 percent year-over-year and are the lowest in the region at $297,000.
ABoR housing economist Clare Losey cited inflation and mortgage rate woes, recession fears, and banking stress as major contributors to falling housing prices.
“In Austin, robust job and population growth have mitigated these effects on homebuyer demand, favorably indicating that our region’s economy and housing market continue to outperform national economic trends,” Losey said. “Austin remains resilient and able to withstand broader economic turbulence more effectively.”
