Knock on wood — real estate professionals say Austin’s housing market is showing signs of stabilizing as local inventory hits two months for the first time since 2019.
Austin Board of Realtors CEO Emily Chenevert said after two years of pandemic prices, “we’re making progress toward something that seems more normal,” during the 2022 Central Texas Housing Summit — which brought together industry professionals and economists — on Tuesday. .
However, housing is one of Austin’s biggest rewards despite a diverse local economy, growing infrastructure investment, multiple nearby universities and a healthy job market. Stable housing is falling in tandem with affordability, said Austin Chamber of Commerce and CEO Laura Huffman.
“So what could drop all this?” Affordability — the number one issue in Austin, ”Huffman said.
So what does the housing market look like since June?
Listings are up, sales are down
Since June, closed sales have decreased by 20% and pending sales have decreased by 31% but asset listings are up by 217% and they remain on the market for about 18 days. To see also : Summer air travel: Airlines see demand despite rising ticket prices. The median selling price is still over $ 500,000 and the demand for housing is still high, but ABoR chairman Cord Shiflet said it is good news to see the market stabilize.
“The trajectory of our market over the last two years has been unsustainable and it has in no way lasted,” Shiflet said. “The Austin market is not balanced at all and it still favors sellers, but buyers have more bargaining power now than ever since before the pandemic.”
Realtor.com senior economist George Ratiu said the market will take some time to reach healthy levels after such a “feverish madness,” adding that prices won’t crash, they will return to where they were before Austin hit an anomaly. period.
“For me, this is good news. When you look at the city right, you see the same trends, prices are a little higher but sales are moderating, ”Ratiu said.“ That’s just a reaction to this period of transition and let’s not forget that things don’t change suddenly.
Development is particularly expensive in Austin
A report released by ABoR and the Texas A&M University Real Estate Research Center showed that Austin’s per-share rates on new development are 187% higher than Dallas, Houston, Fort Worth and San Antonio. On the same subject : Inflection point in High County real estate means a change of approach.
What that means is that development is about 168.8% more expensive per fill and 80%, or $ 8,000, per suburban unit in an Austin-Round Rock metropolitan area. These high fees not only slow down production, but they also deliver to the customer.
David Glenn, senior director of government relations for the Greater Austin Home Builders Association, said researchers from the study could not control what each fee went to.
“We know that with the National Association of Home Builders Price Index, for every $ 1,000 they add to the price of the home, you estimate 791 families in the Austin MSA,” Glenn said. “For suburban developments, 9% of that winner’s income goes to fees, for a fill project 20% only goes to fees. That’s not land, that’s not work, that’s not materials.”
Unflipping the market
Shiflet said the solution to proper dissemination development fees and restrictive zone laws, another major problem in the development sphere, is to vote for candidates who will support housing expansion. Read also : This Underestimated Real Estate Exchange is a Screaming Purchase Right Now.
“However, that you are involved in our housing market, you have to take care of housing and having these conversations is so important to us,” Shiflet said. “We have a major election coming up in November and I can assure you that our 20,000 members of the Austin Board of Realtors will really look at candidates and really look at who puts housing first.”
