AUSTIN (Talk1370.com) -- Austin's housing market remains on fire, but showed some signs of cooling in the month of July - posting the first monthly decline in home sales since May 2020.
According to the latest monthly report from the Austin Board of REALTORS, the number of homes sold across the Austin-Round Rock MSA fell 9.9% year-over-year in July, dropping to 4,041 sales. The median sales price, however, jumped 37.1% compared to 2020, rising to a July record of $480,000.
“July 2020 established the all-time-high watermark for home sales in the region due to pent-up housing demand after several months of stay at-home orders and increased consumer purchasing power,” said Susan Horton, 2021 ABoR President. “As we have moved away from the post-COVID boom, the market has begun to stabilize. The typical seasonality for the summer returned as people re-engaged in other activities, including travel. There are fewer instances of dozens of offers over list price even as home prices continue to rise, albeit at a slower rate month to month than the surge experienced in the first half of the year.”
Total sales volume for the month across the five-county metro area was up 20.7% to $2,409,491,114.
In the City of Austin, the median home price rose 37.6% year-over-year to $574,975, across 1,304 sales (a 10.2% decrease) with a volume of $903,215,913 (a 15.8% increase).
“Austin is always considered one of the top places to live in the U.S., but we’re losing ground due to shrinking housing inventory and affordability," said Vaike O'Grady, regional director of MetroStudy. "With construction delays and regulatory barriers, builders and developers are having increasing difficulty getting new homes on the ground. Because of that, there’s not enough supply coming to the market to significantly impact available inventory, which further pushes prices up. Looking ahead, there will likely only be new inventory available further out in the suburbs; meaning, other submarkets may gain traction over Austin.”