After a wild and record-breaking first half of the year, Austin’s real estate market appears to be slowing down to a more stable place – following suit with other major metropolitan areas throughout the country. While prices are still at an all-time high, this latest report may mark the beginning of a trend that will give buyers some much-needed hope since the post-pandemic boom.
According to the latest market report from ABoR, the number of homes on the market in the Austin-Round Rock MSA last month shot up an incredible 217.8% from 2021 with 7,090 active listings. This number pushed months of inventory past the two-month mark for the first time since November 2019. Experts are calling this the first sign of a market poised to steer towards pre-pandemic growth levels.
“The trajectory of our market over the last two years was unsustainable and it was in no way going to last,” said ABoR president Cord Shiflet. “The resurgence of activity after the COVID-19 pandemic, historically low interest rates and massive job growth created record-high housing demand in our market. We are now seeing a move more towards pre-pandemic sales activity and inventory.”
George Ratiu, senior economist and manager of economic research at Realtor.com added that while “home prices are still increasing at a faster pace than the 5-6% that’s historically considered normal… that’s still much better than this time last year, when the median price increased 43% year over year compared to June 2020.”
What exactly does this mean for buyers? “If you’ve been on the fence about buying a home, you can take advantage of this increased bargaining power and influx of homes on the market,” said Shiflet. “As the fundamentals of our market normalize, buyers and renters need to get their foot in the door, quite literally, and work with their REALTOR® to help them find their next home.”