Could it be?! YES, you've read correctly! It appears that Residential Housing in the MLS area covered by the Austin Board of Realtors, ABOR is beginning to experience a little price adjustment. Many thought that Austin, Texas and its surroundings were immune to the whole "interest rate" thing.
Let me tell you this.... I have conversations with HUNDREDS of different homeowners each week. I'd say about 1/2 of the people who I speak with believe that Texas (and the Austin Metro area specifically) is somewhat protected in a housing bubble...
It's true. Texas is business friendly with a booming economy including tech, plenty of oil (if our current President might consider accessing it), the largest amount of farms in any state and some of the friendliest people I have ever met!
I think that over the long-term, Texas with all its attributes, will continue to attract many new residents for a variety of reasons... and there will still be plenty of space considering its 268,597 square mile size (according to Google). However during the short-term, as long as the Federal Reserve continues to control inflation by raising interest rates, home buyers will be paying more for borrowed money, reducing buying power.
My featured illustration at the top of this article is a snapshot of my MLS page with 2 arrows pointing to 2 significant data points that support my statement regarding a "price adjustment."
Look at the Price Decreases and Withdrawn Listings numbers!
Over the past 7 days, there have been a whopping 638 Residential Housing Price Decreases in the whole ABOR MLS area!
This is HUGE!
When you consider 638 is just about 1/2 the number of New Active Listings (totaling 1281), it should be obvious why this is so significant!
Also, there were 102 Withdrawn listings in the past 7 days...
This tells me that sellers' expectations about how much they were thinking they could get for their properties were NOT commensurate with what the market is willing to pay now! Yet another indicator that money has become more expensive to borrow.
Here are the most current Austin-Round Rock Market Statistics for April published recently by the Austin Board of Realtors, ABOR.
Keep in mind that this illustration compares housing market data year over year. An important statistic here that's very telling of the current situation is the amount of inventory that has grown significantly from February 2022 - April 2022, the last 3 months. During February, the the Austin-Round Rock MLS area had .4 months of inventory. In March it rose to .5 months. By the end of April we were at .8 months inventory!
This is another biggie!
So there are more homes on the market now (even though some have been withdrawn) AND prices are lowering. This looks to me like a REALLY GOOD SIGN if you are hoping for the market to soften!
Opportunities should be "beginning to knock" for buyers!
Looking to get the maximum value for your home or investment?!
Now's the time to sell before interest rates really make a significant impact on your property's value!
Cary Nemeroff, Realtor
512-409-4047
austinlakewayrealtor@gmail.com
www.CaryNemeroff.com
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