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Hi Austin Texas, it is time for your housing market stats update for the week of July 13th.
market stats Highlights Include:
- As of Monday there were 7967 homes for sale in Austin Texas
- There are 1355 new listings that came to the market up in the week prior
- There are 1642 home price decreases
- There are 146 home price increases
- There are 229 properties that fell out of contract now back to the market that is up from the previous week
- There are 521 properties that went Under Contract | Pending Sale that number’s up
- There are 493 Pending properties for Sale
- We saw 754 homes Sold which is down from the previous week
- 168 were taken off the market
- 26 homes had listings that expired
What Does it mean if your a seller?
Given the inventory numbers increasing, Sellers can expect more competition. Sellers, you’ll want to pay attention to how your property is presented or staged. A move-in ready house will sell more quickly than one that needs lipstick or additional renovations. There was a time months ago that Sellers didn’t have to have “the perfect house”. Taking the time to update your home will pay off at the negotiations table. And, you may still be seeing a bidding war. More on that later.
And, more importantly, Sellers, how your home is marketed to Buyers is more important now than ever! Marketing is not about putting a sign in the yard, putting it in MLS and praying for multiple offers or even one decent offer. There’s a lot that a Realtor with experience and marketing skills will bring to you as a Seller. While I will not be talking about marketing strategies here, and we craft specific marketing plans for every Seller. We always have because your home is not like the one a few blocks away, market conditions continue to change and let’s just say that my clients have been thankful for the 27 years of advertising and marketing that I came into the real estate profession with over 12 years ago has helped many Sellers generate more money in their pockets. And, I come with a team of marketing pros that know how to market your property to the right Buyers. Marketing is about strategy and getting your home seen to the right Buers. Sales is about negotiating you the best terms for getting your home sold.
Austin, have we seen home prices drop because the aspirational sale prices started too high? Yes! And, that’s one part of the answer. The market is shifting toward normalizing and, it is still a Seller’s market based on unsatisfied Buyer demands. I don’t have a crystal ball. If anyone has one, please comment below and let me know where I can buy one or borrow yours. Austin continues to be a Seller’s market and when houses are priced for current market conditions, you will all benefit.
In Austin Texas market stats, we are seeing housing prices dropping and they fall into a few categories of homes.
- 1. Resale Homes:
In fact, I just out negotiated 3 other Buyers to get my Buyer a 3 bedroom 2 bath house in South Austin. And, I’m hearing more of the same from Agents buying in the sub-million dollar mark.
- 1b. A subset within these Resale Homes: Investor Resale Homes
Those are homes owned by investors who receivedTheir tax bill and realized that owning their investment property was no longer affordable based on rents. a lot of these sellers are getting out of the market because we do not have a ceiling for property taxes on homes that are not Homestead registered meaning that unlike those of us who own their Homestead and can have a maximum tax increase of 10%, an investor property has no ceiling for that tax does the impact of our Austin Texas housing prices has created a sharp rise in the tax bill of investor properties here in Austin Texas.
If You’re A Buyer:
If you are buying a home in Austin Texas then you need to know that we continue to be in a hot sellers Market. Do we have Buyer fatigue from all the bidding wars in the past six to nine months? Hell yes! And, now that people are on vacation or just coming back from vacation we’re going to continue to see more people enter the buyer’s market and snap up a lot of these houses before school starts end of August.
It’s the same buying and selling cycle that we experience every summer here in Austin Texas. And, depending on interest rates, possible wars, food availabilities and the job market, housing prices will be a reflection.
New Build Homes price decreases we’re seeing is based on Builders Inventory. They had speculated on home demand and built inventory homes to Buyers who had waited to sell their current homes before closing on their new construction home…. Because of delays, These Sellers had to wait. Which was the right thing to do so they could move into their move-up new construction home without being homeless or renting space (which would have meant moving twice).
That said, we’re almost on par with the total number of homes For Sale at this time in 2019. Again, feels like a shift. However, we need 7 months of inventory to be a balanced market and we’re only at 2 weeks of inventory so, Sellers, are in a good position to sell.
There is a shift coming. However, Sellers, the offers that you receive are likely to be higher IF you price your home for the market. Not the market of 3 months ago or 2 months ago or 1 month ago.
Nationally, we are short 5 million “affordable homes” for sale. Are we seeing companies like Zillow and other investors selling a few thousand homes, yes. And, it’s a drop in the bucket as my father used to say. Nationally we could not sustain the pace of housing prices nor could we sustain sub 3% mortgage rates and all the companies that built their company model on re-financing. In the last housing crash of 2008 did we ever believe that we would see interest rates that low ever again? Pre-Pandemic there was talk everywhere about increase interest rates… they had to… until they didn’t and we all stayed home. As a result, many people are in the strongest equity position of their lives.
Are we seeing news of Lending Companies closing? Yes. And, here’s what it means without the sensationalism designed to sell ratings: Either the smartest or dumbest business model on the planet – Smartest because companies were able to capitalize on people re-financing at lower rates. Dumbest because there was no sustainability for those who entered the market with hopes of continuing to work in that sector.
As an Entrepreneur with a conscious capital mindset, I salute the companies that both helped those with mortgages save massive amounts of lending fees moving forward and employed so many people at a time when our nation had so many of us working from home and in need of their re-financing lending services.
The US Economy added 372,000 jobs putting us at Pre-pandemic numbers. The job market is strong. Gas and inflation at the grocery store suck! Thankful that my car doesn’t require premium fuel right now and thoughts of Tesla running through my mind. It’s a crap shoot though because who controls our electricity grid? But I digress.
Buyers, your most valuable asset is a great real estate Agent. Yes, I’m a Realtor. We know that. And, here’s the thing… once we have you pre-approved with a local Mortgage Lender, it’s your Realtor that will help you get your offer in this competitive market. Don’t be confused that going direct to the Listing Agent or Builder is going to give you an advantage because neither one of these folks are going to negotiate great terms for YOU and for themselves.
The Listing Agent represents the Seller.
The Builder represents the Builder.
I sent some folks from California to a local Lender who had requested paperwork on multiple locations in order to get them pre-approved. I followed up with them repeatedly. They’d send texts to ask what I thought about certain properties and I spent hours working to get them information and following up. This went on for months. And, I requested that we sit down and review the buying process further. Now, I trusted these folks because they were a referral from a friend. Months go by. They stop returning calls. They don’t fill in forms with the Lender. They finally call him back and say “Hey! We found a house with a builder and we’re gooing to buy directly with them”. He asks for their paperwork and low and behold, they can’t get the paperwork that he’s been asking for for months. And, because of that one form, an employer letter… oh, they work from home and weren’t going to tell their employer that they’d moved… and goodbye dream home. And, good bye Lender who had tried to help them all along only to fall on deaf ears. Goodbye Jennifer who is no longer interested in working with people who clearly thought I was here for them only to work around me in hopes of saving money.
Thing is, the Builder has the Realtor fees built into their house sales price. The Builder isn’t interested in anything but getting that contract. Do you think they’ll negotiate the best terms for an unrepresented Buyer? Do you think that Buyer will get the best price? Best finishes? Best third party Inspector working for them throughout the building process? Best Lending terms? Best Title company? Buyers, would you go to court and be your own littagator? Not unless you’re a lawyer.
So, please regardless of the market conditions you want someone who works for you, who gets you, who is there for you. Rant over.
We’ve covered a lot today. And, next week we’ll have another update for you.
I’m Jennifer S. Goodman Living in Austin Texas. If you have any questions or thoughts about the real estate market in Austin Texas, please feel free to leave a comment below. We’d love to hear from you.
Thanks for tuning in, we’ll catch you next time.
Want to talk about real estate? Please feel free to call or text at 512.548.4568
