Is the Austin housing market crashing and burning or is there any silver lining on the horizon? I’m going to break down the stats what we’re seeing in quarter one so far and 2023, so that you understand what’s happening with your home’s value, and also make more educated decisions about whether or not it’s the right time to buy or sell.
So in 2022, just to recap, the Austin housing market looked just like a roller coaster with home values appreciating drastically in the first half of the year, and then coming down just as rapidly because of the rising interest rates. In fact, we ended the year about 2%, lower than where we started in January of 2022. Now that rates have been hovering around 6% or so we are starting to see some stabilization.
So in January, the median sales price in Travis County was about $499,000. And in February, there really wasn’t much movement. And it’s staying around that $499,000 or so I personally think that the major price dips are behind us, you have to keep in mind that interest rates almost doubled in a six month period. And we’re not likely to have that happen again. So if rates stay somewhat stagnant, our prices should also stay somewhat stagnant.
Now, the next data point that we’re going to look at is days on market. And what I really find frustrating always with these stats is that they’re so far behind, we don’t get the closed data for February until almost the middle end of March.
So we’re looking at closed sales prices for February, which means that those are reflective of offers that people made in January. And they likely made those offers on houses that had been listed during the holiday season, which is usually a little bit slower. So it’s showing that the average days on market is 82 days. But I can tell you personally that since March, we’re seeing things speed up quite a bit. In fact, four of our listings that we just listed here, have sold in an average of about three weeks, so not anywhere near those 82 days. But it’s definitely important to price your home correctly and give it a little more time. Now we are also seeing some multiple offers. But it’s not the crazy offers like we saw on 2021 and 2022. In fact, we recently helped a buyer go under contract we won in a multiple offer scenario. And we were below asking price. We’ve seen other offers come in where it’s just at asking price. And that was the highest offer, maybe someone a little higher, but no one is going out and throwing in the crazy high offers that they did in 2021 and 2022.
So what does this mean, if you are a seller right now? Definitely, you need to look at the closed data that’s just happening right now. Because that is going to be your closest comps some of the holiday data is going to be a little outdated, we are seeing things pick up a little bit.
And keep in mind that although you’re not going to get the price that your neighbor got last spring, you’re still going to do well if you’ve owned your home for a while, if you look at where our home values have gone from January of 2020. Until now, we’re still at about 42% appreciation in that short amount of time, which is an incredible amount of equity. And the good thing is that even though you might you might not get the crazy high price. When you go and buy your next home, you’re also not going to have to compete in bidding wars and pay way over asking. So it’s kind of a level playing field. You’re going to walk out with a lot of equity, but have a tremendous amount of power when you step out as a buyer to get your next home.
Now for buyers, the biggest frustration for everyone is just dealing with the higher rates. You know, last spring you would have had a rate somewhere in the three and a half for low fours right now it’s hovering in the six and a half to seven range fluctuates pretty constantly. So here’s some ways that we’re able to offset those costs. A lot of our buyers are still able to negotiate the price down on the next purchase which can offset your monthly payment. It’s still common to get some seller concessions. So the seller may give you a credit at closing that you can then in turn, use with a lender to buy your rate down. And then if you are willing to shop new construction, there are some unbelievable opportunities right now. A lot of the builders have tons of inventory all around the suburb areas just outside of Austin and to unload that inventory and make it more attractive builders are offering to permanently buy down rates.
We have help someone get a 4.99% interest rate recently Another one was 5.75. After the rates had gone up a little bit, they’re paying their closing costs, we’re negotiating the price down, they’re throwing in appliances, all kinds of stuff, because they’re eager to unload a lot of the inventory that suddenly stacked up on them.
So there’s incredible opportunities right now for buyers. As a seller, you can still do okay if you are focused on the equity and again, the great deal that you can get when you buy next. Now, as always, keep in mind that every single neighborhood is so different, especially if you live in the inner city part of Austin, as opposed to somewhere in the suburbs and a small town outside of it. There’s a lot of variation there. So we are happy to help you analyze your situation and figure out what is the best strategy to navigate this market so it makes sense if you actually do need to buy or sell, email us to book a short appointment with us we can analyze your situation help you make the best decision.
