Luxe Austin Homes - Grossman & Jones Group

"Will Homeowners Finally Sell in 2025? Here’s What the Experts Say, Amid a Glimmer of Hope"

Realtor.com writes, "The U.S. housing market crawled to a standstill last year—and while the latest projections show that 2025 is expected to bring only limited relief to buyers and sellers, there is a glimmer of hope on the horizon.

The year closed out with the strongest seasonal slump since January 2023. Homes lingered on the market for a whopping 70 days, up from 62 in November. It made December 2024 the slowest festive season in five years.

Inventory also plummeted 8.6% from November, marking the most precipitous drop in nearly two years.

Meanwhile, mortgage rates reached a six-month high, hitting 6.91% for the average 30-year fixed home loan for the week ending Jan. 2, according to the latest numbers from Freddie Mac.

On top of…

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"U-Haul: Austin metro ranked No. 5 for one-way moves in 2024"

Austin Business Journal shares, "The Austin metro was among the hottest destinations in the country for where people were moving last year, according to the latest annual ranking from U-Haul International Inc.

Austin ranked No. 5 among the top U.S. growth metros in 2024, and Texas was the No. 2 state for move-ins — bested from the top spot after three consecutive years by South Carolina, according to data released Jan. 2 and Jan. 3.

The Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington area took the crown for the top growth metro in the recent list, followed by Charlotte, North Carolina (No. 2); Phoenix (No. 3); and, Lakeland, Florida (No. 4). Houston ranked No. 9.

U-Haul collects migration data from more than 2.5 million one-way U-Haul truck, trailer and moving…

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"Zillow economist calls Austin’s housing market ‘healthy’ going into 2025"

AUSTIN (KXAN) — "A senior economist for real estate company Zillow told KXAN that the Austin-Round Rock Metropolitan housing market is set to enter 2025 in a “healthier” spot than its previous “unsustainably hot” situation.

Zillow senior economist Orphe Divounguy said in a Dec. 11 interview that 2024 saw a “cooling in the housing market.” The company rated the Austin-Round Rock Metro as a buyer’s market in an October 2024 report.

“We’re in a period of transition, and we’re going to continue to see home sales continue to rebound slowly from the big trough that we had in 2023,” he said. “The big surprise at the national level was the fact that we started to see some sellers return.”

Divounguy’s prediction for the national market in 2025?…

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"Austin suburb appears on new 2025 list of safest U.S. cities"

CultureMap Austin writes, "New Year's resolutions can come in many forms, and if relocating to a safe Austin-area suburb is high on the list for 2025, Round Rock is the place to be.

Round Rock was declared the No. 26 safest city in America for 2025 in a new study by personal finance advisors MoneyGeek. The website's experts examined the most recent FBI crime statistics (from 2023) to determine the cost of crime in 292 U.S. cities with populations over 100,000 residents.

The estimated cost of crime in this North Austin suburb – which the study calculated as the "societal cost of crime per resident" – was $575 in 2023.

While Round Rock's crime cost per capita may seem high, it's actually far lower the national crime cost, which was $2,178 per…

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"Icon to create 100 more 3D-printed homes at Community First Village"

Austin Business Journal shares, "Austin-based, 3D-printing company Icon Technologies Inc. is continuing its partnership with East Austin's Community First Village, where construction is underway on more of the company's unique, printed homes.

Icon is partnering with Lennar Foundation, the charitable arm of homebuilder Lennar Corp., to build 100 homes at Community First using its industrial-scale 3D-printing technology, according to an announcement. Icon has already built 17 homes and facilities at the development, including Community First's welcome center.

Community First Village, created by Austin-based nonprofit Mobile Loaves and Fishes, provides affordable, permanent housing for people coming out of chronic homelessness. It will be able to…

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"Check out real estate trends in the Bastrop-Cedar Creek area in November"

Community Impact shares, "The real estate market continues to see action in the Bastrop-Cedar Creek area, which experienced 62 home sales in November, according to data from the Austin Board of Realtors.

Zooming in

In the 78602 ZIP code, 42 homes sold, while 20 sold in the 78612 ZIP code in November.

The median home sales price in the 78602 ZIP code over the last six months is $375,000, and in the 78612 ZIP code, median home prices were $474,998 in the same time frame.

In the 78602 ZIP code, homes were listed on the market for an average of 70 days. In the 78612 ZIP code, homes were on the market for an average of 87 days.

Source: Community Impact

Written by: Sierra Martin

Published: December 19, 2024

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"New real estate startup focused on facilitating seller financing"

Austin Business Journal reports, "A local lender is fundraising for a new startup that aims to help address home affordability by facilitating seller financing.

MORE Seller Direct Financing was founded by Leahy Lending founder Ryan Leahy, who said the startup will show sellers and listing agents how to market lower interest rates in order to attract more homebuyers. In addition to legal, marketing and educational services, the startup will help determine if seller financing — in which a home seller and not a financial institution provides financing to a qualified buyer — is right for the seller.

He said the startup's goals include helping sellers move their homes faster and also earn monthly income to offset current or future mortgage payments.…

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"How Austin fits into Zillow's predicted housing market growth in 2025"

CultureMap Austin writes, "It looks like a few more people are about to turn their online home shopping daydreams into reality in 2025. Zillow, the famous real estate listings website, says in a press release that next year will likely bring "a gradual but bumpy decline in rates, impacting sales and price growth."

It attributes the forecast to "erratic and dramatic mortgage rate movements" throughout 2024, which will continue to affect the market. The website's housing market predictions report estimates that 2025 will see about 100,000 more sales than 2024, that home value growth will be "low and slow" at 2.2 percent, and that inventory and new listings will continue recovering from pandemic weakness.

On a local scale, Zillow's latest data…

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"Forecasts in 4 top markets a reminder that real estate is local"

Key points:

• During NAR’s annual real estate forecast summit, a panel of economists shared predictions for their markets in 2025.
• Compared to much of the country, Austin and Florida have significant inventory, while in Virginia and California, supply remains constrained.
• Regional issues including post-boom rebalancing, chronic underbuilding and job shifts will continue to impact local markets next year.

RealEstateNews.com writes, "As real estate agents and brokers prepare for 2025, they will need to consider how national forecasts — including predictions of more transactions in 2025 — apply to their local markets.

While the mantra "all real estate is local" remains in play, some trends proved fairly consistent between 2020 and…

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"Where is Williamson County's population growing?"

Austin Business Journal shares, "With a population increase from 2020 to 2023 of 14.5%, Williamson County is clocking more new residents than all other counties in this fast-growing region.

So how do the suburbs there stack up to each other? We examined data Opportunity Austin pulled from the U.S. Census Bureau, looking at the population growth in the county’s incorporated places from 2020 to 2023, to figure that out.

Georgetown has been designated as the nation’s fastest-growing city of at least 50,000 people for the past three years, and it has been adding more people than any other city in the county. But, as the graphic indicates, Georgetown isn't the fastest growing, percentage-wise. Smaller cities have the advantage on that metric, and it…

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