9.9% Dip in Home Sales

Posted by Ashley Stucki on Friday, July 30th, 2021 at 9:27am

In their latest news release, ABoR reports that residential home sales decreased across the Austin-Round Rock Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) for the first time since May 2020, according to the Austin Board of REALTORS® July 2021 Central Texas Housing Report. Despite the dip, the five-county MSA was just 445 homes shy of breaking the all-time home sales record set in July 2020.

“July 2020 established the all-time-high watermark for home sales in the region due to pent-up housing
demand after several months of stay-at-home orders and increased consumer purchasing power,” Susan
Horton, 2021 ABoR President, said. “As we have moved away from the post-COVID boom, the market has begun to stabilize. The typical seasonality for the summer returned as people re-engaged in other activities, including travel. There are fewer instances of dozens of offers over list price even as home prices continue to rise, albeit at a slower rate month to month than the surge experienced in the first half of the year.”

As residential home sales in the Austin Round-Rock MSA declined 9.9% to 4,041, the median sales price
jumped 37.1% year over year to $480,000—a record for the month of July. At the same time, sales dollar
volume increased 20.7% year over year to $2,409,491,114. Monthly housing inventory dipped 0.8 months to 0.9 months of inventory. While the inventory remains well below a healthy average, inventory has slightly increased since the first half of 2021.

Vaike O’Grady, regional director of MetroStudy, said that while the frenzy to buy a home in Austin has
steadied from this time last year, it’s unlikely that home prices will go down any time soon.

“Austin is always considered one of the top places to live in the U.S., but we’re losing ground due to shrinking housing inventory and affordability. With construction delays and regulatory barriers,
builders and developers are having increasing difficulty getting new homes on the ground. Because of that, there’s not enough supply coming to the market to significantly impact available inventory,
which further pushes prices up. Looking ahead, there will likely only be new inventory available further out in the suburbs; meaning, other submarkets may gain traction over Austin.”

In July, new listings increased 8.2% to 5,166 listings; active listings dropped 36.9% year over year to 3,294 listings; and pending sales declined 11% to 3,900 listings. Homes only spent an average of 12 days on market last month across the MSA.

Horton stated that what our market is experiencing isn’t just an Austin phenomenon, but occurring
elsewhere, too.

“Seasonality has a hand in the increasing home sales growth across our region and nationally. Compared to the early pandemic days, the pace of home buying activity has slowed across the U.S. If you’re looking to buy or rent a home, don’t miss this opportunity to take advantage of the market’s slower pace. If you’re looking to sell, don’t mistake this dip as a cool down—it’s still an excellent time to sell a home. Our market is still difficult to navigate, so it’s always best to enlist the expertise of a REALTOR®.”

 

 

 

 

 

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