If you were to pick one word for Austin in the month of July it would be “hot.” There were 17 days of triple digit heat, and the city posted its strongest month of home sales since 2011.
And that happened as Austin posted its highest ever median home sale price ever — $390,000. That represented a six percent year-over-year increase in price. Home sales inside the city limits meanwhile climbed by 13.5 percent — or 952 sales.
The pace seemed likely to continue through August.
“Strong pending sales activity in June contributed to a big uptick in home sales growth last month, and pending sales growth was strong again in July, too,” said Steve Crorey, 2018 president of the Austin Board of Realtors. “This means we could see another uptick in home sales growth in August to end the summer selling season on a high note.”
Strong sales inside Austin’s city limits helped the overall metro area log another strong month, as well. Home sales in the metro area increased 8.8 percent in July — or 3,103 sales. Meanwhile, the median price of a home climbed 6 percent year-over-year to $320,000.
“Home sales are up across the board in the Austin area, but declines in housing inventory are almost just as steep. The city of Austin, in particular, lost almost half a month of inventory from July 2017 to July 2018. That’s a lot of inventory to lose year over year,” Crorey said. “ABoR housing market data underscores not only the ongoing strong housing demand in our region, but the critical need for more housing stock at all price points in and around Austin.”
Looked at from a different perspective, the average sales price of a home in Austin has increased from $353,919 in 2016 to $372,492 in 2017 to $383,103 in the most recent 12 months. Meanwhile, the number of homes sold climbed from 29,805 in 2016 to 31,115 in the past 12 months.
The average number of days homes are on the market, however, has been increasing. In 2016, homes averaged 50 days on the market. In 2017, it was 54. In the past 12 months, 56 is the average.
Austin’s simply growing too fast, experts say.
“Housing construction is at an all-time high in Central Texas, but the pace of new housing stock entering the market can’t justify last month’s jump in sales growth on its own. These gains in home sales activity are being driven by pure demand,” said Vaike O’Grady, Austin regional director for Metrostudy.
Here are more Austin metro area home sales figures from July 2018.
Median Price for Single-Family Homes in the Austin Area — $320,000
Single-Family Homes Sold in the Austin Area — 3,103
Average Number of Days on the Market — 44
Total Dollar Volume of Homes Sold in the Area — $1.3 billion
Months of Housing Inventory Available — 2.9
New Listings — 3,738
Active Listings — 7,522
Pending Sales — 3,065