Austin, TX Market Statistics - An Overview of Residential Real Estate in February 2010
I reviewed the market statistics from the Austin Board of Realtors for February 2010 (we Realtors have access to a whole slew of market details). The stats for March should be out in a few weeks, so I wanted to share the info from last month and some thoughts. The chart belows gives a comprehensive comparison of multiple factors in the residential market including new listings, pending listings, solds, days on market and much more. Take a look here:
It can be a little confusing to read at first. These market statistics cover the entire Greater Austin area. It includes both rural and urban areas from Georgetown to San Marcos and Hutto to Blanco/Burnet County. With that in mind, the numbers start to show a positive outlook for what's happening in the market. Active listings have increased over 13% from this year to last year in February. This can be attributed to both the first time buyer and current home owner tax credits. Also, home owners may be looking to list their homes to take an early advantage of the typically higher activity markets of the spring and summer.
The figure that really jumped out was pending sales. It was a 40% increase! This without a doubt is directly influence by the April 30 deadline for the tax credit. Closed sales remained consistent with last year. These are pendings from late December and January - a time when the market tends to be a bit slower. It'll be very interesting to see what the numbers for pending and closed sales will be for March.
Median sales price and average sales price each took a minor dip from last year. Again, this is an indicator of many first time buyers in the market who tend to purchase lower priced homes thus lowering the median and average sales price. A very interesting figure for both buyers and sellers is the over 14% drop in average days on market. With 6.5 months inventory, we're very much in a neutral or balanced market. Some areas lean more toward a sellers market while others favor buyers. As a whole, this shows that as more homes are coming on the market, there is a strong wave of buyers to absorb the increase. Homes are being sold quicker on the whole, and the closer to list price.
I'll be sure to post the results for March as soon as they are available. A few things to take away are it is clear that the tax credits along with lower interest rates are having an impact in the market and there is a clear increase in activity from both buyers and sellers. The market as a whole isn't leaning strong in one direction in favor of buyers or sellers. Again, it comes down to the individual neighborhoods and areas. I'll be paying close attention to see what impact following the tax credit deadlines. The market statistics for the Austin, TX area give a postive outlook. With cutoffs for government incentives looming, the activity should continue along the typical spring and summer activity levels. Even a small drop off in activity following the deadlines shouldn't affect the overall outlook for the market.
If you have questions regarding this information, or about buying/selling a home in the area, please feel free to email me. I appreciate your comments and thoughts!
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