Central Texas Housing Report - June 2023

If you are looking to buy or sell a home in Central Texas, contact me via email or at 512-650-7300. If you prefer to read instead of watch, here are the chart and transcript.

In May, 1,914 resale homes closed in Travis & Williamson Counties which was down 21% from May 2022. The median price in May decreased 19% year-over-year to $488,000.  Remember that last May was the peak of the Austin market, so a year later, prices are down 19%.  Compared to last month, it was a decrease of 1.4%.  Since the start of 2023, the median price is up 3.8%.  In real estate, the primary way we measure home values is with the median price.  But, there are other numbers worth examining.  Year-over-year, the average price of a home dropped 12% to $650,603 and the average price per square foot decreased by 16% to $307.

The number of available homes in May was 5,233, up 78% from last May.  We have more homes available now that pre-pandemic.  In fact, we are the only market in the country with that distinction.  During May, 2,805 new listings hit the market which was down 18% from last year.  Why is there such a big drop in the number of new listings?  Well, there are some pretty strong reasons to keep people from selling their homes.  Excluding those who bought over the past year, most owners probably have a mortgage rate between 2.5% and 3.5%.  If they sell their house and buy another one now, they’ll be paying around 6.5%.  In addition, if you a homestead exemption, you’re likely paying property taxes based on an assessment that is quite a bit below market value. If you go buy another home, you’re going to end up paying taxes on a fully appraised home.  Those two things are stopping some people from selling their home and buying another when they could have easily done it not too long ago.  For the most part, people who have to move will certainly move, but those who want to move, may decide to stay put.

Back to the stats:  the average sales price to list price ratio was 98.0%.  For homes that closed in May, the average days on market was 51, up from 10 last year.  The May sales ranged from a low of $90,000 to a high of $8,700,000. 

If you have any real estate related questions, please don’t hesitate to call or text me at 512-650-7300 or email me at [email protected].  Thanks for reading “How’s The Market in Central Texas.”

The stats I’ve cited are resale homes only in Travis and Williamson County classified as single family residential, condominium, or townhouse.  This is different than the stats released by the Austin Board of Realtors which include all types of homes and also include Hays, Bastrop, and Caldwell Counties.  Plus, their numbers include any new construction homes listed in the MLS.

Statistics based upon information from ACTRIS for the periods cited.