Austin Texas Real Estate Blog

Austin Market Update

November 27th, 2007 11:22 AM
Recently released from the Austin Board the update below is telling data about the Austin residential market slump that has gripped us for the last 3 months. The credit crunch, holidays, uncertain interest rates, and questionable consumer confidence have all played a role in slowing sales. While the 15% decrease may seem like a big hit, it’s important to remember that 2005 and 2006 were stellar years for real estate in Austin. We saw fast sales, steady increases in values, and a generally national trend bucking economy here in Austin. An interesting thing to note in the press release below is that while sales have slowed, median price has continued to rise. As an Austin homeowner, you can’t complain about that.

October 31st, 2007 7:31 PM

Here’s some interesting data that I put together from the ACTRIS MLS system and thought that I’d share.

The areas correlate to the MLS areas for Austin. I’ve selected only the areas that I work in so my apologies in advance if you are interested in another area.

Then you’ll see the # of newly listed properties in that area. The properties include single family homes, condominiums, townhomes, lofts, and garden homes.

The average list price(LP) is pretty self explanatory, but for the sake of completeness it’s the average prices that sellers want to get for their homes.

The #Pending column shows the number of homes that have received and accepted an offer. These homes are not guaranteed to close and usually about 7% will fall out and start the sale process over. Note that under certain circumstances, such as the recent sub-prime correction in lending standards, as many as 40% of the contracts may fall off.

The second average list price (LP) column shows the average list price of homes that were put under contract.

# Sold represents the number of homes that have closed escrow and are now owned by a new person or entity.

The Average sale price (SP) column shows the average price of homes that were closed and transferred to a new owner.

The %SP/LP column depicts the ratio of sale price to list price. This column shows on average how close to list price sellers and buyers are able to agree on a purchase price. You should NOT use this to determine how much or little you should offer! Your real estate agent can help you with determining the market value of a subject property and help you factor in any other considerations, such as non-realty items, seller paid closing costs, duress on the part of either party, etc. Look for another blog post to go over all the ways that you should not attempt to value property and the ONLY ways that really matter for most residential purchases.

Average days on market (often referred to DOM by real estate agents) are how long the properties were on the market before they sold. It does not include the days that the property is in escrow, but instead is from the first date the property was listed until an offer was accepted and the property was listed as sale pending status.