July Sales Numbers Signal Shift in Market

The price of single family homes in the Austin area continued to rise year over year for July 2016. However, the number of homes sold tell the story of a shifting housing market in the area.

Single family home median prices increased 6% to $285,000, but the number of homes sold decreased 5% to 2,900.

Aaron Farmer, 2016 President of the Austin Board of REALTORS­®, said, “The value of Central Texas real estate has continued to increase, which is good news for homeowners, but those rising prices could start to have a cooling effect on sales volume in the market amidst growing affordability challenges.”

The high development costs within the City of Austin make it difficult for builders to construct anything that would sell for less than $250,000. As Farmer explained, “In return, this pent-up demand is driving home prices up in surrounding areas in where lower-priced housing stock can be built. The result is a catch-22 of housing development, where the homes that can be developed are largely in price classes where both prices and inventory are higher, while the much-needed housing stock under $250,000 goes un-replenished.”

For further details on the July sales market, click here.

The infographic below (courtesy of ABoR), gives a colorful illustration of the report’s full statistic.