AUSTIN (Talk1370.com) -- Despite it being the second-most active January on record, Austin's housing market saw an overall decline compared to a year earlier, according to a new report released Wednesday.
According to data from the Austin Board of Realtors' monthly Central Texas Housing Report, closed listings fell 5.8% to 2,295 for the month, while the median sales price rose 30.4% to $476,000 and sales dollar volume rose 18.2% to $1,318,618,884.
“This was the second-most active January on record in our market,” said Cord Shiflet, the association's 2022 president. “We need to make it easier to build homes across all price ranges in the region so that anyone who wants to own or rent a home has the opportunity to do so. Recent housing development announcements across the region like Trinity Ranch in Elgin and Prairie Lakes in Hays County are welcome news, but our community —including elected officials — need to do more to address the systemic issues we face when it comes to getting new homes built quickly and residential redevelopment projects completed faster.”
In just the city of Austin, the median home price rose 20.9% year over year to $550,000—a record for the month of January. Home sales decreased 10.6% to 711 sales, while sales dollar volume increased 2.6% to $465,738,899. During the same period, new listings decreased 18.3% to 784 listings, active listings dropped 37.7% to 362 listings, while pending sales also dipped 7.2% to 960 pending sales.
“Austin’s unprecedented economic growth shows no signs of stopping, with announcements of new projects almost daily," said Scott Turner, president of the Home Builders Association of Greater Austin. "While this is great for Austin long term, our capacity to house people cannot keep up, with people having to drive further outside city limits to find a home they can afford."
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Turner said supply chain issues are contributing to the slowing rate of construction, even with demand higher than ever. "It is harder than ever for builders to complete homes on time due to a lack of both materials and labor," said Turner. "It takes almost twice as long to build than it did pre-pandemic, so we are building less housing per year, despite our best efforts."
Turner added that while builders and buyers want new homes built as quickly as possible, the land development code in Austin is outdated and complicating the development pipeline. “Ten years ago, Austin acknowledged that the land development code was inadequate to meet our growing housing needs. Today, we still have the same issues, and it takes longer than ever to navigate the permit process. We need a new code that allows more housing to be built, and we need the city to make the changes necessary to deliver permits in a reasonable time. Until then, home prices will continue to increase like they have for the past decade.”
Despite the year-over-year decline in the five-county metro area, individual counties saw increases. Williamson County sales rose 4.8% with a median price increase of 42.2% to $460,000, while Hays County saw a more modest sales increase of 1.3% with median prices rising 30.1% to $389,000. Bastrop and Caldwell Counties both saw declines in sales volume, while the median sales price in Bastrop County skyrocketed more than 50% to $398,000.