March Real Estate Market Report

Spring is here in Central Texas, and the real estate market in Austin is already in full swing. Home sales in January and February exceeded those in the same time period for the last seven years. With still fewer than 5000 single family homes actively on the market, demand is still outpacing the supply.

March began with the highest number of pending home sales in history with 3,466 pending home sales. I had to take a double look at that figure just to make sure it was right. Both the inventory and days on market are at record lows. Of course it varies by neighborhood and price range, but the average days on market is 48. Increasing demand and low inventory continues to push prices upward. Take a look at the specifics for each price band and zip code in our March Market Report.

The strongest demand is still for homes under $600,000. All of the price bands under $600,000 are in an Extreme to Normal Seller’s Market.

In the luxury market, those homes priced at or above $1,000,000, a good number of sales are going unreported. We belong to several luxury agent networking groups that share properties that are being sold in the “silent” market or that will never appear in the MLS for a number of reasons. We have the opportunity to tour these homes privately and to showcase our listings with these luxury home groups.  The majority of the buyers purchasing these homes are paying cash for them, and we are still seeing multiple offers on these properties even though they are being offered publicly. Our excellent contacts in the real estate industry help us stay ahead of the curve by networking with these luxury agents. It continues to be a big win for our buyers and sellers.

Real estate is hyper local and all of us are Austin natives. If you have questions about the specific data in any neighborhood, we are happy to help you understand what is happening there.

Posted by Laura Duggan, President, West Austin Properties, 3312 River Road, Austin, Texas 78703, 512-750-2425, laura@westaustin.com