Austin area closes decade with record-breaking $13B in home sales
Real estate agents in Central Texas sold more homes in 2019 than in any year on record, according to a new report from the Austin Board of Realtors. The December and year-end 2019 Central Texas Housing Market Report shows that 33,084 homes were sold, bringing in $13,158,737,333 in sales volume.
“Austin’s unprecedented population growth during the past decade has heavily impacted the real estate market. Compared to 2010, home sales in 2019 increased by 84%,” said Romeo Manzanilla, president of the Austin Board of Realtors. “That type of exponential growth has put enormous pressure on the market, raising the median home price from $193,520 in 2010 to $318,000 in 2019. As we look forward to this year, the market is not showing signs of slowing down anytime soon.”
Austin is one of only eight U.S. metro areas to have fully recovered in the last 10 years to pre-recession values, according to Mark Sprague, state director of information capital at Independence Title.
“Austin’s GDP, which grew 117% over the last 20 years, helped the real estate market recover from the recession,” he said. “The closest metro out of the top 50 in the U.S. to see this type of growth was Silicon Valley, which grew its GDP by 99% during the same period.”
In greater Austin area, the median price for single-family homes increased by 2.6% to $318,000 in 2019. During the same period, sales increased by 7.2% to 33,084 sales. New listings for the five county region increased year over year by 1.4% to 39,309 listings in 2019. Active listings decreased 4.3% to 6,216 listings, but pending sales increased 10.5% to 33,976 pending sales.
Sprague said every real estate channel in the Austin metro—from homes to warehouses—is doing well, even with a lack of inventory. In December 2019, sales volume in the greater Austin area increased by 9.2% to 2,608 sales, while inventory decreased by 0.5 months to 1.7 months of inventory. Growing demand pushed the median price of a single-family home to $323,000, a 7.1% increase from December 2018.
“If we don’t take action to increase housing supply in Austin, we will continue to see exponential increases in home values,” Manzanilla said.
In Austin proper, the median home price increased by 5.3% in 2019 to $395,000 compared to the previous year. During the same period, sales rose by 1.8% to 9,572 homes and sales dollar volume grew 6.9% to $4,678,400,967. In December, the median home price increased 8% year over year to $405,093 and sales increased 8.9% year over year to 738 home sales. Austin’s monthly housing inventory decreased in December from 0.5 months to 0.9 months of inventory.
While Williamson County’s median home price increased in 2019 to $287,774, it remains significantly lower than the median in both Travis County — $372,000 — and the city of Austin. Single-family home sales in Williamson County increased by 10.5% to 11,797 sales in 2019 compared to 2018. In December, the median home price rose 4.3% year over year to $290,280; sales increased 14.1% to 970 sales. Housing inventory declined 0.5 months year over year to 1.8 months of inventory.
Southwest of Austin, the median home price in Hays County increased by 1.8% to $268,000 in 2019. Sales increased by 6.9% to 3,829 sales. The median home price in December grew 1.5% year over year to $269,000; December sales increased 2.2% to 279 sales. Housing inventory decreased 0.2 months to 2.6 months of inventory.
Here are additional Austin metro area home sales figures from December 2019.
Median Price for Single-Family Homes in the Austin Area — $323,000.
Single-Family Homes Sold in the Austin Area — 2,608
Average Number of Days on the Market — 59
Total Dollar Volume of Homes Sold in the Area — $1 billion
Months of Housing Inventory Available — 1.7
New Listings — 1,580
Active Listings — 4,803
Pending Sales — 2,055
