How’s the housing market in Austin, Texas right now? Stay tuned for this Market Minute, I’m going to break down all the latest stats! So our latest report for the month of May from Austin Board of Realtors shows that the median sales price is 537,000. So it’s really not much of a change from April, it’s it’s staying about the same there. If you look at January through April and May, you can see that our prices have gone up about 7%, which is signs that we’re kind of back to normal seasonality, we usually see prices increase in the spring and they start to level off in the summer, they come down a little bit in the fall or winter months. Now what really looks ugly, though, is when you look at year over year, we’re showing that we’re 17% down on price from May of 2022 to May of 2023. And if you look at the graph, year over year, you can see that may was the peak the height of the market in 2022, where then the prices started dipping pretty drastically once the Fed started raising rates. So I would assume that this is probably the worst month that we’re going to see these this low drop of year over year. But as we go along later in the year, these numbers should be closer together. Because it’s reflecting already the lower sales prices that we saw by the fall winter months.
So what does this mean for you, if you’re a homeowner, if you’ve owned your home for a while you still have a huge amount of equity, we’re still up about 50% From where we were starting in 2020 Onward, we have tons of clients who own their home free and clear. And they are taking advantage of the prices being so low right now to get back into the market. So they’re selling their home taking all the equity that they have and using it to get a tremendous deal on their next home. We are also seeing lots of bargaining power for buyers right now, even in lower price points. We recently helped a young couple get a home under contract that was under $350,000, we were able to get the price lowered by $6,000. And get them another 8500 in closing cost, which is really unbelievable, because last year if that home had been listed for 350 in the spring, it probably would have sold for 425 or more because that’s what was happening was just constant bidding wars and big bidding wars, maybe 1520 offers on it. Right now if someone puts you’ll see a house does get multiple offers.
We’re seeing maybe like two three offers. And they’re really not weigh over asking they’re close to asking price. We’ve actually won a couple of multiple offer situations where we were below asking price. So it’s a completely different ballgame for anyone who wants to buy right now. So price is down 17% from last year, very little multiple offers lots of inventory to choose from. And bargaining power, which is helping buyers get lower rates. The other huge way that you can get a discount right now is with new construction. There are so much inventory out there. And a lot of it’s not even on the MLS so this these numbers could be higher as far as how much inventory we have, or showing that we have about three and a half months of inventory. But there’s a lot more out there that just hasn’t even been listed yet from builders. Most builders are offering anywhere from three to 6% in closing cost, discounts on prices. Some of them are offering fixed rates where you use their lender and you can get a rate of 4.99 or somewhere in the low fives. So they’re doing everything they can to make their homes more affordable and easier for people to purchase. If you’re going to sell always keep in mind you need to be very realistic on pricing and try to price your home in line with the current sales that have happened in the last month or so.
Markets always moving this year, it’s appearing to be a little more stable and steady than it was last year, which is a good thing. Because it’s easier for us to predict prices and get a better idea of where the market is sales are affected tremendously by interest rates. We were staying pretty stable and in March and April. We had tons of buyers out there writing lots of offers getting them under contract rates went back up over 7%. Towards the end of May. They stayed pretty high in the high sixes and there that definitely put a damper on a lot of buyers reentering the market. Now the Fed just announced that they’re going to pause their rate hikes so they did not raise the rates anymore in June. Usually we see a slight dip in interest rates once the Fed meets and announces their decision because a lot of times mortgage companies inflate the rates kind of as a buffer in expectation of what the Fed is going to do. But then once they make a decision.
Isn’t that rates inches back down. So there could be a very brief window where the rates come down a little bit. It may not last too long, though, because the Fed did indicate in this last meeting that the rates will probably go up at least two more times this year. So if you’re someone sitting on the fence thinking, well just wait for the rates to drop. That may not happen this year, you might be waiting into 2024 or so. But keep in mind that with the lower prices with the ability to bargain, get closing cost or get builders to lower your rate for you. The rates are not as big of a deal for a lot of people we’re hip, we’re able to offset those costs so that they can still get homes that they love. Now, every situation every neighborhood everything across town is very different. We have very hyper local markets around Austin, so you have questions about your particular neighborhood or your home. Contact us for more information.
