Steiner Ranch Housing Report - February 2012

In this edition of How’s the Market in Steiner Ranch?, I review a few of the monthly sales stats, give my interpretation of them, and discuss the sudden drop in available homes across the Austin area.

To view summary and detailed information for all Steiner Ranch neighborhoods, check out the Neighborhood Home Sale Data. If you are looking to buy or sell a home in Steiner Ranch, contact me at 512-650-7300, by email, or the form below.

If you prefer to read instead of watch, here the transcript:

Transcript

Greetings! I’m Craig Smyser with RE/MAX Capital City. Welcome to the January 2012 edition of “How’s the Market in Steiner Ranch.” In addition to looking at the current statistics, I’ll discuss the sudden drop in available homes throughout the Austin area. In January, 16 homes closed in Steiner Ranch which was up 100% from January 2011. Of the 16, 11 were resale and 5 were new construction homes. Of last year’s 8 sales, 3 were resale and 5 were new construction. So if you look only at existing home sales, this past January was up by 8 homes or a statistically whopping 267% (it goes without saying, but I’ll say it anyway, don’t expect that pace to keep up this year). Keep in mind that many new construction homes are not listed in the MLS so I cannot provide accurate data on new construction numbers in Steiner Ranch. Of the 11 resales in January, 3 were distressed sales – 2 foreclosures and 1 short sale. As always, when we are looking at small sets of data such as one month in Steiner Ranch, I don’t like to compares prices from one year to the next because they can be very volatile. For the record, the average price increased 4.9% to $412,680 and the median price increased 15% to $429,500 over last December. The average price per square foot dropped by 4.2% to $123.20. Last month, the sale prices in Steiner ranged from $221,000 to $582,000. The number of available homes in January was 70, down almost 18% compared to the previous January. By available homes, I mean homes that are actively for sale – it does not include homes under contract. This is a snapshot in time and actually varies throughout the month. I expect the number of available home to begin turning up again next month. The average sales price to list price ratio was 97.4% (SLIDE) while the average sales price to original list price was 93.2%. For homes that closed in January, the days on market was 69 days. As always, my website allows you to look at summary and detailed data for each Steiner Ranch neighborhood. Simply go to RealEstateInAustin.com and click on the neighborhood home sale data tab.

Over the past month or so, the number of available homes in Austin has really dropped. Again, I am referring to homes that are active in the MLS – it does not include homes already under contract. We recently hit at least an eight-year low in the number of homes available in the Austin area. This graph shows the number of homes available on the last day of the month, going back for eight years. It has peaks and troughs that are usually predictable, but right now we are experiencing something different. This eight-year chart shows us at the lowest point, under 8000 active homes (larger version here).

So what does this graph mean? It means it is a great time to be selling a house – if it is the right house! While this is an overall graph, keep in mind that it doesn’t apply to all markets and price ranges. In Steiner Ranch, for example, there are only 58 resale homes available today. However, only 10 are available at or under last year’s median price of $345,000. That means only 17% of the available resale homes are in the price range at which half of last years homes sold – a very tight market and if you have a home in this price range you plan to sell, I’d suggest you contact me to get it on the market as soon as possible. On the other hand, almost 40% of the available homes are priced above $500,000 – a range in which about 20% of last years homes sold – so that market is better for buyers. This demonstrates why it is always important to understand your specific market and not the overall market. Of course, I can help you understand your specific market. As always, if you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact me at 512-650-7300, by email, or the form below.

Thanks for watching “How’s The Market In Steiner Ranch.”

 Statistics based upon information from ACTRIS for the periods cited.