"On the House: What First-Time Home Sellers Need To Know To Be Successful This Spring"

Q: What are some tips for homeowners who hope to sell their homes this spring?

Realtor.com shares, "this month, we’re mixing it up. Instead of focusing on first-time homebuyers, we’re going to shift our attention to first-time home sellers who are spiffing up their properties to list this spring or summer.

It’s not expected to be an easy housing market for anyone—buyers or sellers. The COVID-19 pandemic-era real estate frenzy, where just about every home seemed to sell in a bidding war over a single weekend, has mostly passed. Fewer buyers can afford to buy with mortgage interest rates so high, and those who can may not be able to afford to go as high anymore.

But sellers still have a pretty big advantage: There are many more shoppers…

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"Build It and They Will Come: 10 Surprising Cities Where New-Home Construction Is Booming"

Realtor.com writes, "where are America’s new homes?

That question keeps boiling up to the surface, as buyers grapple with the current state of the housing market. High prices and soaring mortgage rates are driving affordability into the dirt. And lurking at the center of all buyer challenges is one towering and inescapable bugaboo: the lack of available homes. It’s simple math. Fewer homes = increased competition, higher prices, and epic levels of frustration.

Last year, new-home construction permits for single-family dwellings declined by about 14% over the previous year—and it’s hardly a new trend. Since the 1990s, U.S. housing starts per 1,000 households have been about half of what they were for the preceding 30 years. The building slowdown…

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"Austin home buyers have more power when it comes to inventory, report says"

Culturemap Austin writes, "confidence in the real estate market has grown since February, with buyers gaining more leverage through inventory increases across the Austin-Round Rock metro area, according to the latest monthly report from the Austin Board of Realtors (ABoR).

The report shows that housing inventory in February spent an average of 84 days on the market, a massive 55-day jump from February of 2022. The current median home price for the metro area is $436,419, a 12 percent drop from the previous year.

“Austin’s housing market is trending in the right direction. Buyers have more options and negotiating power with each passing month, and sellers have more time to make their next move,” said 2023 ABoR president Ashley Jackson in a press…

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"This April week is the best time to list your Austin-area home, data says"

KXAN Austin writes, "wondering when the best time is to list your Austin home? New realtor.com data states it’s coming up soon.

The study shows the week of April 16-22 is the best time to list a home in the Austin-Round Rock metro area. This week is forecast to have above-average prices, above-average buyer demand, a fast market pace and lower competition from other sellers.

This week is also the best week for most other metros in the country, the report said, including the Houston metro. San Antonio’s best week is the following week, April 23. The report said the week of March 26 is the best time to list Dallas-Fort Worth homes — bucking the national trend.

Best times to list your Texas home

“The week of April 16-22 is expected…

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"Austin Housing Market Forecast"

U.S. News reports, "given the enormous popularity of the greater Austin, Texas, area for online searches, newcomers and employment growth, it may act as a reasonable bellwether for the state of the U.S. housing market. This will certainly be tested in the spring and summer selling season, when the National Association of Realtors reports that about 40% of sales of existing homes throughout the U.S are historically made between the months of May and August. Besides offering warmer weather, buying a home during these months allows buyers with school-aged children to shop, bid, close and move into a new residence before the start of a new school year.

Similar to the overall U.S. housing market in mid-2020, the Austin housing market went into…

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"Is the Housing Market About To Hit Rock Bottom? Here’s What That Means, and Why We May Be Here for a While"

Realtor.com writes, "today’s housing market has been in some deep doldrums by many standards, but the latest real estate statistics suggest something more serious might be ahead—that the market might be careening toward some sort of rock bottom.

“Taken as a whole, this week’s data lines up with other indicators that are pointing to a potential bottom in housing market activity at a fairly low level,” notes Realtor.com® Chief Economist Danielle Hale in her most recent analysis.

The only upside we can think of is that there’s typically nowhere to go from there but up. So, does that mean the worst days of real estate will soon be over? Not quite, since the big four harbingers of housing—home prices, inventory, days on the market, and mortgage…

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"Austin is the No. 1 fastest-growing U.S city for millionaires—see where else made the list"

CNBC reports, "cities like New York City and L.A. might be some of the wealthiest in America, but it’s smaller cities that are becoming more and more appealing to millionaires.

According to Henley and Partner’s 2023 wealth report, cities like Austin, Texas, and Scottsdale, Arizona, are gaining millionaire residents, while bigger cities like Chicago, and New York City are losing them.

Top 5 fastest-growing U.S. cities for millionaires

1. Austin, Texas
2. West Palm Beach, Florida
3. Scottsdale, Arizona
4. Miami, Florida
5. Greenwich and Darien, Connecticut

The No. 1 city on the list is Austin, Texas. According to the report, the Texas city saw a millionaire growth rate of 102% from 2012 to 2022. In December 2022, Austin was home to…

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"Mortgage Rates Rise for Third Week in a Row, Returning to Highs Seen in November"

Realtor.com reports, "the numbers: Mortgage rates are up sharply, putting pressure on the housing market once again.

The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 6.5% as of February 23, according to data released by Freddie Mac on Thursday.

That’s up 18 basis points from the previous week. One basis point is equal to one one-hundredth of a percentage point.

The 30-year rate was last at this level in November 2022.

Last week, the 30-year was at 6.32%, compared with last year, when it was averaging 3.89%.

The average rate on a 15-year mortgage rose to 5.76%, from 5.51% the previous week. The 15-year was at 3.14% a year ago.

Freddie Mac’s weekly report on mortgage rates is based on thousands of applications received from lenders across the…

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"January housing report: Central Austin home prices trend downward, housing inventory increases"

Community Impact writes, "home prices are continuing to trend downward, and housing inventory is on a steady uptick in Central Austin, according to Austin Board of Realtors January report.

In January, median home prices in Central Austin decreased 0.2% to $680,000 in Central Austin.

This trend was reflected throughout the Austin-Round Rock area, where median home prices decreased 6.3% to $450,000, the largest drop since July 2011, according to ABoR.

ABoR President Ashley Jackson said that while the market is cooling within the Austin region, surrounding Central Texas cities are seeing an uptick in home prices.

“Outlying areas like Caldwell and Hays counties are the most affordable pockets in Central Texas. When we have a city like Austin challenged by…

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"Is Austin housing hot or not? Prices are sliding but buyers, sellers cautiously test waters"

Austin Business Journal writes, "despite chilly forecasts from the likes of Zillow and Goldman Sachs, others expect the heat to stay elevated in Austin’s housing market — by at least one measure, it's still among the hottest in the country.

Austin tied with Durham, North Carolina for third place in the U.S. News & World Report’s latest Housing Market Index, released Feb. 14. Raleigh, North Carolina ranked first and Denver ranked second.

The index takes into account data on employment, housing prices, builder sentiment and much more.

Austin ranked No. 4 in the supply sub-index, which included government data on housing supply, rental vacancy rates, construction costs, construction jobs, builder sentiment from the National Association of Home…

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