Austin Real Estate Blog

The stats for April are out for the Austin Real Estate market. I have gotten a few questions about why for instance April stats are not released until May. Basically although a sale happens in April, it is not reported until later. So if you were to pull the stats out in the beginning of April they would be pretty far off.

There is some interesting stuff going on this month so let's get started. First off, the basics. The market is definitely still slower than it was in 2007. Don't let anyone tell you different. The number of active listings on the market is up 20% compared to last year (8354 to 10034). The number of solds is down 14% (2295 to 1981). The median price is up ($185,000 to $187,900) and average price is down ($249,912 to $242,160). I think the median price is only up because cheaper houses under 150k are not selling due to the subprime issues. Basically in today's market, I am seeing lower prices and better deals than I did last year.

While the market is slower than last year, at this time we are actually seeing some positive signs over the last few months. One indicator people look at is the Months of Inventory on the market. It is based on the current number of sales and looks at how long it would take to sell all the houses currently on the market. A lower months of inventory means the market is a strong market/seller's market. Below is a graph showing the months of inventory over the last few years. As we see the months of inventory has been falling for the last few months. And the difference between now and last year is the lowest it has been in several months. Keep in mind the market is currently a buyers market and is worse than last year. But it seems to be weathering the storm better than a lot of markets that are currently imploding.

Now let let's look at average prices. Because of seasonal flucations in prices we usually compare the average price to what they were last year. So in contrast to the "Months of Inventory" graphs, what we discover when we look at prices is that seasonally adjusted average prices are down 3 percent this month the biggest year to year decrease in several years.

So are sellers overreacting to negative talk about the national real estate market? Maybe. Should sellers go with higher prices. I would say no for 2 reasons. First the Austin real estate market is not strong, it just seems to be weathering the current real estate storm. Secondly if everyone on your block is selling their houses for 200k and you list for 220k, well you can make your own conclusions about the likelihood of selling your home. What does this mean for buyers? Basically prices are down and interest rates are still relatively low. So if you take some time and look over the market you can probably find some decent deals out there. This is what promoted Lisa and I to make an offer on an investment property this week.

Ok lets look at the submarkets of the Austin real estate market. The Lakeway/Lago Vista market is moving incredibly slowly, by far the worst part of the market. East Austin has improved quite a bit from its dreadful performance a few months ago but is still underperforming the general market. West Central Austin is still outperforming all the other submarkets in the Austin area. The central part of the city outperforming the rest of the market is actually reflective of what we have been seeing in other cities around the country.

Here is a further breakdown of the different central Austin MLS areas. Here is a map showing the boundaries of the different Austin MLS areas.

Also if you want to search what is currently on the market we have a search here for Austin homes. As always, if you have any questions about a particular house or the market in general, or if you are looking for a home feel free to contact us