Grossman & Jones Real Estate Blog - housing

"Austin-area housing market poised for another stable year, experts say"

Austin American-Statesman writes, "Steady as she goes.

That about sums up the 2025 outlook by real estate experts for the housing market in the Austin metro area, a five-county region stretching from Georgetown to San Marcos.

Peering into their crystal balls, several leading experts who have tracked the ups and downs of the Central Texas real estate market for years, even decades, foresee stable conditions this year. They predict the 2025 housing landscape could mirror last year's, as more normal trends continue in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic era buying frenzy, when multiple offers, often well above asking price, were common.

Those expected trends include home prices remaining relatively flat; a steady supply of housing; predictable…

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"Austin to deliver more affordable housing in 2025 than any other US city, study says"

Austin Business Journal reports, "Austin is expected to deliver more affordable multifamily housing units than anywhere else in the country in 2025, and it still may not be enough.

With housing affordability a major issue both in Austin and across the country, 2025 is expected to see 78,377 affordable multifamily housing units delivered nationally, with 3,452 units in Austin alone, according to a new report from Yardi Matrix. Los Angeles is expected to deliver the second-most affordable units this year, at 2,752.

Even with nation-leading construction, however, worries persist that Austin still won't have enough. In addition, rising development costs and other issues could reduce the number of new units in coming years.

Affordable multifamily…

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"Elevated prices, interest rates will continue to curb housing affordability in 2025"

Austin Business Journal reports, "Homebuyers and sellers in the Austin metro likely will see little change in prices and inventory in 2025.

That's because median sales prices are likely to hover around the $450,000 mark reported in December 2024, and interest rates are expected to stay high, according to Clare Knapp, housing economist for the Austin Board of Realtors and Unlock MLS. It's a combination that's considered unaffordable for many first-time homebuyers, which means the onus is on homebuilders to build more homes with lower price tags to help move the needle on affordability in the metro.

A first-time homebuyer can typically afford to pay three times their income for a home, putting many in the market for a home in the $300,000 to $400,000…

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"Austin housing market shows promising stability in 2025, report says"

CultureMap Austin shares, "Austin's real estate market has shown progress with improving stability thanks to an increase in listings and slight reductions in prices. Stabilizing prices aside, the overall market's activity brought in more than $17 billion in 2024, according to the latest report from the Austin Board of Realtors (ABoR) and Unlock MLS.

The final report of 2024 wrapped up the Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos metro's performance and compared it to 2023's statistics. Most notably, median prices in the Austin area declined 1.7 percent year-over-year to $445,000.

Unlock MLS' housing economist Clare Knapp, Ph.D., predicts 2025 will show similar activity to the previous year.

"2025 market activity will likely look similar to trends…

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"The baby boomer effect is hitting the housing market hard"

Austin Business Journal writes, "Baby boomers own an outsized share of homes in America — and nearly half of them say they’ll never sell.

About 43% of baby boomers say they will never sell their home, the highest of any generational group, according to a survey of U.S. residents ages 18 to 65 by real estate firm Redfin Corp. (Nasdaq: RDFN). The biggest single reason cited for staying in place is that their home is almost or completely paid off, while others say they like where they live.

About 30% say they are staying in their current home because prices are too high and 18% said they are staying because they don’t want to give up their low mortgage interest rate.

The survey results are playing out in real time, with a recent Redfin analysis…

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"Austin-area ZIP code ranks among top 10 hottest housing markets of 2024"

CultureMap Austin writes, "The Austin metro's strong real estate market has shown it can persevere through another year of high mortgage rates, and one local ZIP code in Kyle was the No. 10 hottest housing market in the nation in 2024. That's according to a just-released report by online real estate company Opendoor.

The study examined the U.S. ZIP codes where people bought homes the fastest in 2024, using local Multiple Listing Services (MLS) data in markets where Opendoor operates. The ZIP codes were ranked by the total number of homes that went into contract within 90 days of listing.

Homes in Kyle's 78640 ZIP have an average value of $319,463, though that price has dipped 6.1 percent over the last year, according to Zillow's Home Values…

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"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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"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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"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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"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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