Demand for homes in Central Texas surged again in August, setting a new record for the number of sales in the Austin area. And that’s just latest in a string of big months for home sales.
All the activity and influx of new residents continued to drive up prices. In August, the median price of a home in the Austin area was $265,000. That’s a dip from the median of $269,500 in July, but an 8 percent increase compared to August last year, according to the most recent home sales report by the Austin Board of Realtors.
Looking farther back, median prices have increased more than 30 percent — or $65,000 — since 2010.
But, despite the climb in price, the Austin area had a record number of sales for August — 2,943. That represented an 8 percent increase from August 2014.
It’s good news for people selling homes. But the rising costs continue to raise concern about affordability.
“As Austin realtors, we’ve seen our city expand in ways we never could have imagined, but household incomes have not been expanding at the same rate as the cost of living in Austin,” said Barb Cooper, 2015 President of the Austin Board of Realtors. “We will continue working with our city’s leaders to find a solution to the complex affordability issues, with the end of goal of providing affordable and diverse housing stock for our growing population that aligns with the actual incomes of Central Texas residents.”
The Board noted that about 65 percent of Austin-area professionals made less than $50,000 last year. Since housing cost guidelines show home cost should be less than 30 percent of gross monthly income, that means folks making $50,000 are looking at homes for $200,000 to $215,000.
The result is that more people are looking outside of Austin to places like Cedar Park and Round Rock to find affordable housing.
“The growing disparity between rising home prices and what Austin residents can afford, combined with low inventory levels, will continue to drive residents outside of Austin’s city limits to buy a home, putting further strain on our region’s infrastructure and resources,” Cooper said.
Here’s a look at the rest of the stats from August:
- 2,943 – Single-family homes sold, 8 percent more than August 2014.
- $265,000 – Median price for single-family homes, 8 percent more than August 2014.
- $329,620 – Average price for single-family homes, 6 percent more than August 2014.
- 42 – Average number of days single-family homes spent on the market, unchanged from August 2014.
- 3,364 – New single-family home listings on the market, 2 percent more than August 2014.
- 6,979 – Active single-family home listings on the market, 4 percent more than August 2014.
- 2,686 – Pending sales for single-family homes, 11 percent more than August 2014.
- 2.9 – Months of inventory* of single-family homes, 0.1 months less than August 2014.
- $970,071,660 – Total dollar volume of single-family properties sold, 15 percent more than August 2014.
