Luxe Austin Homes

"Mortgage Rates Dip Further—So Why Are Home Prices Still So High? The ‘Sticky’ Problem, Explained"

Realtor.com writes, "with Thanksgiving behind us and much Christmas merriment ahead, one might presume that home shoppers have shelved their house hunt until the new year. But no, the housing market is as hopping as ever—and even full of surprises of late.

“Housing data in the week that includes the Thanksgiving holiday show that the housing market continues to evolve, but not always as expected,” explains Realtor.com® Chief Economist Danielle Hale in her weekly analysis.

In our column “How’s the Housing Market This Week?” we’ll break down what’s happening with the latest real estate statistics, and what it means for homebuyers and sellers.

Home price growth ticked up

In November, home prices hovered at a national median of $417,000,…

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"Home Prices Fall and Listings Soar: Could It Be a Great Time To Buy Despite High Mortgage Rates?"

Realtor.com writes, "as the housing market barrels toward the end of the year and all of its holiday trimmings, potential homebuyers are likely wondering what’s in store for the coming season.

Home shoppers looking for lower asking prices can officially check that off their wish list. November’s median home list price of $417,000 was much more wallet-friendly than June’s record high of $449,000, according to a recent report from Realtor.com®.

Yet the volatile real estate landscape is not quite ready to bring only glad tidings. High mortgage rates—which, as of Wednesday, hover at 6.58% for a 30-year fixed-rate loan—are a stark reminder that many buyers might still struggle on the affordability front.

“Even though prices are down month to…

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"Travis County considers increasing development fees"

Austin Business Journal reports, "developers working in Travis County may face increased construction and permitting fees in the months ahead.

Travis County Commissioners Court is considering increasing existing development fees and implementing new ones for a variety of services including traffic impact analysis, on-site sewage facilities and floodplain permits, in addition to requests for variances and exceptions associated with development review.

If passed, this would be the first change to the county’s development fee structure since 2016 and generate millions in annual income for the county.

With already long wait times for county development review, which increase the cost of new construction, commissioners stress that any additional…

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"Texas condominium and townhome sales stabilize, median price rises from 2021 to 2022"

PRNewswire reports, "Texas condominium and townhome remained steady between July 2021 and June 2022, compared to the same period the previous year, according to the 2022 edition of the Texas Condominium Sales Report released today by Texas Realtors. The number of condominiums sold across the state slightly decreased 0.2% to 17,164 sales, while townhome sales remained virtually the same at 11,575 sales (compared to 11,579 last year).

The report analyzes condominium and townhome data statewide as well as the Austin-Round Rock, Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, El Paso, Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land, McAllen-Edinburg-Mission and San Antonio-New Braunfels metropolitan…

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"The 10 best cities for finding a hybrid job that pays $100,000 or more―they’re not all on the coasts"

CNBC writes, "even as more workers report to an office than did a year ago, hybrid work that allows them to work from home at least part of the time remains the dominant trend.

More than half of people with remote-capable jobs expect to work in a hybrid arrangement by the end of the year, according to Gallup, and online searches for hybrid jobs are up by 130% in the last year, according to IT-recruiting firm Frank Recruitment Group.

As far as being able to work from home, at least some of the time, and commanding high pay goes, several major tech hubs still lead the way. More than a quarter of hybrid jobs in San Francisco and Seattle pay more than $100,000 per year, according to a report from SimpleTexting, a text message marketing service.

…

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"Will Plunging Mortgage Rates Spark a New Homebuying Rush? Here’s What the Latest Housing Statistics Say"

While mortgage rates are rarely great conversation fodder over Thanksgiving dinner, this Thanksgiving is a whole different story. If there’s a homebuyer or seller at your table, you can bet your good gravy the topic will pop up.

After all, mortgage rates have more than doubled throughout 2022, blasting past the 7% threshold and hitting a 20-year high in late October.

Yet in the past two weeks, there’s been an astonishing reprieve.

We’ll take a look at the latest statistics that have made the American dream of homebuying such a roller-coaster ride this year in our column “How’s the Housing Market This Week?” And lo and behold, the overall message this Thanksgiving week is actually good news.

Mortgage rates fell again

The headliner is…

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"Report shows Southwest Austin home prices up, number of sales down for October"

The latest Austin Board of Realtors report shows prices in the Southwest Austin housing market continue to increase while the number of sales continues to decrease.

Although the Austin housing market continues to show signs of stabilization, with fewer sales and more available inventory in the markets, prices continue to be higher compared to last year, according to the October ABoR report.

“Austin’s housing market is still growing, just at a different pace,” ABoR President Cord Shiflet said in a press release. “We’re entering the time of year that is historically a quieter time for home sales. With more available inventory than our area has seen in a decade and price growth stabilizing, buyers have more options today than ever before. Now is the time for…

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"Fed Says: Don't Get Too Excited About Rates Just Yet"

There's no question that last week was an exciting one for rates. On Wednesday, the average 30yr fixed was fairly close to the highest levels since 2002. The following afternoon, it had fallen more than half a percent to the lowest level in nearly 2 months--the biggest single day drop on record.  

While rates are still very high relative to anything but the past 8 weeks, it was a promising step in the right direction.  It raised hopes for a bigger picture shift after the fastest rate spike in 40 years.  

As the new week got underway, rates managed to hold onto their newfound gains relatively well and with minimal volatility on average.  Things may have been better were it not for a concerted effort on the part of the Fed to remind the market not…

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"Mortgage Rates Just Tumbled—but Here’s Why That’s Still Bad for the Housing Market"

Realtor.com writes, "mortgage rates have skyrocketed this year, scaring many would-be homebuyers and sellers out of the market.

But even when rates seesaw lower, as they did this week, it still takes a toll on the housing market.

Why? Because when financial conditions are so erratic and unsettled, many would rather wait it out.

“Today’s homebuyers and sellers are dealing not just with higher housing costs, but more uncertainty as a result of fluctuating mortgage rates,” Realtor.com® Chief Economist Danielle Hale says in her weekly analysis. “The uncertainty is leading to hesitation.”

We explore the ramifications of when borrowing costs zigzag all over the place, keeping both homebuyers and sellers on edge, in our column “How’s the Housing…

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"Housing market in Round Rock, Pflugerville, Hutto moving toward stabilization, report shows"

Community Impact writes, "the latest data from the Austin Board of Realtors shows a continuing trend of stabilizing home prices and supply in Round Rock, Pflugerville and Hutto.

According to the ABoR's monthly report for October, the median price of a home sold across the three cities in October was $457,876. While a slight increase over September's median price of $450,000, that price is still lower than the prior two months—$475,000 in August and $476,458 in July.

Additionally, $457,876 is a 5.4% year-over-year increase from October 2021's median price of $434,495.

By comparison, the broader Central Texas market saw a median sale price of $421,149 in October, while the city of Austin saw a $555,000 median sale price.

ABoR President Cord Shiflet said…

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