Steiner Ranch Housing Report - September 2023

The sales stats look fantastic for August, but this set of data is exactly why we can't rely on one month worth of sales to understand what's happening in the market.

If you are looking to buy or sell a home in Steiner Ranch, contact me via email or at 512-650-7300. Previous editions of How’s the Market in Steiner Ranch are also available.  If you prefer to read instead of watch, here are the chart and transcript.

The market continues to meander along without much direction.   Let’s dive into the numbers.

In August, 16 resale homes closed in Steiner Ranch which was up 23% from August 2022.  23% sounds impressive, but we’re talking 16 homes versus 13 so it’s only three homes higher.  Now, before I give you the prices, let me state that last month a home sold that was the most expensive sale in the history of Steiner Ranch (at least, that is in the MLS).  So these numbers are a bit skewed to the high end.  The median price increased 18% to $1,062,500.  The average price of a home increased 35% to $1,364,144.  The average price per square foot increased by 6% to $324.21.  Let’s go ahead and remove that one home and see how the numbers stack up.  The median price increased 6% to $950,000.  The average price of a home increased 1% to $1,021,753.  The average price per square foot decreased by 5% to $289.84.  As usual, I also like to look at a longer time frame, so let’s consider the year-to-date stats.  The number of resale homes sold during the first eight months of the year is 117, down 6.4% from this same time last year.  The median price of a home has decreased 23% to $840,000.  The average price decreased by 14% to $1,019,113.  The average price per square foot decreased 13% to $302.56.  So let’s talk about the median price, which is the number widely used to measure home prices.  Is it really at the $1,062,500 we saw in August?  No, it’s not.  I say that because when I look at the list of homes, I see things that make me believe it isn’t a good representation of the market.  First, throw out the most expensive home that’s ever sold here.  That takes down the median to $950,000.  So is that accurate?  I think it’s a bit high.  Of the 15 homes that sold, only four where in Steiner neighborhoods I would call entry level.  Five were in mid-level neighborhoods, and six in the higher-end.  I look at things like how many had pools, how many had views, how many were recently updated, and things like that.  Based on the August sales, I think this group of homes is, overall, a little more than the median across the neighborhood.  It’s hard to pinpoint what the true median price would be if we had more sales and they were a good cross-section of Steiner, but I’d put the number closer to $900,000.

The number of available resale homes at the end of August was 37, down 29% from last August.  It’s also down from last month.  Typically, the seasonality of the market says this number will decline over the next few months as fewer homes are offered for sale, but we’ll see if that plays out again this year.  The number of homes put on the market in August was 20, up 67% from last year.  That’s a big jump and the first year-over-year increase we’ve seen since March.

Across Steiner, the August sales ranged from a low of $699,000 to a high of $6,500,000.  As I’ve already mentioned, that’s a record price for Steiner.   The average sales price to list price ratio was 97.7% and for homes that closed in August, the average days on market was 77 up from 24 last August.

Last month, a total of 22 homes went under contract compared to 20 in 2022.  It was the highest number this year which seems to have bucked a lot of conventional wisdom about the market.  Several of those have already fallen out of contract, but that has been a fairly common occurrence this year.

Overall, the market isn’t changing a whole lot.  Interest rates have been sitting at or over 7% for a while so buyers are getting used to it.  Where are interest rates going in the future?  I have no clue.  The Fed doesn’t even know.  But I’ll keep watching the market and letting you know what’s happening.  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].  If you are thinking of buying or selling soon, let’s get the conversation started.  Thanks for reading “How’s The Market in Steiner Ranch.”

Statistics based upon information from Unlock MLS for the periods cited.