Fasten your seatbelts ladies & gentlemen, we’re in for quite a ride! What a difference a few months makes. As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, sales have been picking up in the Austin real estate market but now they are really taking off and we’ve experienced a strong shift in sales in the last few months. It’s an unusual market. Some neighborhoods have already seen a tremendous rise in home values just in the last few months. If you’ve been looking to buy since late last year, be prepared to have to pay more for similar homes than you would have at the beginning of the year. At the same time though, with interest rates hovering around 4% and below, affordability is still at record highs. Historically speaking, in the last 11 years, Austin’s housing market has been pretty soft for 9 of those 11 years. Since 2001, median sales price is only up about 37%. So we are probably long overdue for a period of strong sales and appreciation, at least for awhile
Sales the last 2 months have been tracking along with those of 2008 and 2010 when we were deep into the effects of the homebuyer tax credit bump. I expect that May’s numbers will find Austin home sales exceeding those 2 years.
With the exception of 2010’s home buyer tax credit affected market, April’s number of pending homes in Austin is substantially outpacing monthly pending sales for the last 4 years. This is a strong positive sign for our market moving forward.
Our housing inventory in Austin remains incredibly tight and is not likely to change much in the foreseeable future. The best houses in the best neighborhoods are going quick and often with multiple offers.
For those of you considering buying, it’s time to get prepared and pre-approved. You might not be getting a home at the bottom of the market, but you haven’t missed it by much and we are likely to see an extended period of appreciation. Home sellers, now is the time to take advantage of a resurgent market.
Whether you are thinking about buying or selling, a great way to get started is to go to my web site at www.PeterDennison.com and download a copy of my Home Buying Guide or Home Selling Guide. Just click on the appropriate icon at the bottom of my home page & download your free copy. I’ll give you a call and we can schedule a time to meet, discuss your goals and put a plan together to achieve them.
Thanks for the great info Peter!