It looks like the Austin area may set yet another record for residential home sales. After a slight uptick in the pace of sales, year over year, in October the Austin area is poised for a seventh straight year of record-breaking home sales.
The Austin metro area recorded a 2.2 percent increase in single-family home sales despite a 1.7 percent decrease in the number of homes sold inside Austin city limits.
“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,” Brandy Guthrie, 2017 President of the Austin Board of Realtors, said. “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.”
Number off Sales Increase
In the past 12 months, 30,151 homes sold in Austin. That’s compared to 29,805 sales during the 2016 calendar year. Meanwhile, the average sale price is at $371,952 over the past 12 months compared to $353,919 during 2016.
Sales across Williamson County to Austin’s north increased by 5.4 percent in October, compared to the same month a year prior. To the south, in Hays County, sales increased 6.2 percent over the same period.
New Construction Inventory Up
New construction has helped push Austin area housing inventories up slightly in recent months. The region now has 2.8 months of inventory, which is a measure of how long it would take for buyers to purchase all remaining properties if no new ones went on the market. Housing experts suggest about six months worth of inventory for a balanced market.
“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.”
Key Housing Statistics
Here are a few other key stats from the Austin Board of Realtor’s housing report on the Austin metro area in September 2017.
- Median Price for Single-Family Homes in the Austin Area — $286,742
- Single-Family Homes Sold in the Austin Area — 2,292
- Average Number of Days on the Market — 55
- Total Dollar Volume of Homes Sold in the Area — $846M
- Months of Housing Inventory Available — 2.8
- New Listings — 2,816
- Active Listings — 7,083
- Pending Sales — 2,542