With its the median home price falling 15 percent, to $467,500, and completed home sales dropping 4 percent, to 3,411, Austin's housing market appears to be cooling — or "stabilizing," depending on who you ask — at least a little.
On the other hand, according to the Austin Board of Realtors' May 2023 Central Texas Housing Report (where the numbers cited in this story came from), a 118.9 percent year-over-year increase in active listings, to 8,960 homes, could indicate that "buyers and sellers saw more opportunity across the Austin-Round Rock MSA."
New inventory in the area grew from 2.2 months to 3.4 months of inventory, and 94 percent of Austin homes on the market in May sold for their list price, according to the report, while pending sales slipped slightly (0.5 percent) to 3,243. Housing inventory has grown to 3.4 months, a slight increase from April. Homes are spending about 65 days on average on the market, up 49 days year-over-year from May 2022.
While a rise in mortgage rates nationwide has caused homebuyers’ purchasing power to decline by an estimated eight to nine percent due, said ABoR's Clare Losey, "in Austin, the moderation in home prices has helped to mitigate the decline in purchasing power. In fact, from May 2022 to May 2023, the monthly mortgage payment declined an estimated three to four percent.
ABoR's May numbersAustin Board of Realtors
"Context matters, and May’s 2022 median home price, $550,000, was the highest median home price the Austin region has ever seen," Losey said. "Relative to pre-pandemic levels, last month’s median home price is up 44 percent.”
Home sales and median prices fell slightly in every Central Texas county except Hays, where the median price dropped 16.1 percent to $400,000, but home sales jumped 9.6 percent. Median home prices in May for Travis County were $537,000 and $439,990 in Williamson County. In Bastrop and Caldwell counties, the median fell to $369,900 and $312,000, respectively.
