Luxe Austin Homes - interest rates

"The housing market is slowing but home prices are still going up"

Austin Business Journal writes, "this year's housing market, beset by high interest rates, is on track for the lowest number of homes sold in 12 years.

Fannie Mae, the government-sponsored mortgage financing organization, projects total home sales in 2023 to be about 4.8 million, the lowest since 2011, and only slightly higher in 2024 at 4.9 million. The total amount of mortgage originations for 2023 is expected to be about $1.56 trillion, down from what Fannie Mae had originally projected to be $1.6 trillion this year.

Fannie Mae sees personal spending to be at unsustainable levels relative to American incomes and it projects a "modest economic contraction" in the first half of 2024, combined with mortgage rates hovering above 7%.

And while…

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"Austin may allow tiny homes with wheels, RVs as permanent residences"

Austin Business Journal reports, "Austin homeowners may have an opportunity to transform their backyards and other open spaces into leasable dwellings as the local government works to create new options for affordable housing.

Austin City Council on Sept. 14 asked city staffers to draft an ordinance that would allow mobile tiny homes and recreational vehicles to be used as permanent residences in areas zoned for single-family housing. The draft of the code amendment is expected to be presented to Austin's Housing and Planning Committee and to Council by the end of November.

The effort would be another piecemeal change to Austin's land development code as city leaders work to eliminate barriers to creating additional housing. Affordability issues…

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"'The market is active and resilient': Austin area sees uptick in home sales"

Austin American-Statesman writes, "Resilient.

That's the status of the Austin-area housing market as of August, when it saw its first year-over-year increase in home sales since early 2022, the Austin Board of Realtors says.

In its latest monthly report, the board said 2,939 houses changed hands last month in the five-county Austin region, which extends from Georgetown to San Marcos.

The sales represented a 1.4% increase over August 2022. It was the first increase in sales in the Austin region since February 2022, before repeated interest rate hikes by the Federal Reserve to ease inflation began sharply slowing home sales throughout Central Texas.

Across the Austin-Round Rock metro area, half of the houses last month sold for more than…

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"Pearlstone envisions denser Austin, forges ahead with $700M in urban housing"

Austin Business Journal writes, "amid a year of muted activity for commercial real estate development, Pearlstone Partners LLC is betting big on the continued allure of Austin — it has three new projects up its sleeve that could total about $700 million in construction costs. That's on top of Robert Lee and his team forging ahead on three under-construction projects expected to deliver from early 2024 through 2025.

The Austin-based company just unveiled details on three multifamily communities planned to rise on prime sites, spread from Rainey Street to the northwest side of the Central Business District. All three are still in the investment phase, meaning they may not deliver for a few years.

Demand for housing has slowed across the board in…

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"Signed Contracts for U.S. Homes Rise for the Second Month in a Row"

Realtor.com reports, "the numbers: U.S. home sales inched up for the second month in a row, as the housing market continues to be hampered by high rates and a lack of home listings.

Pending home sales rose by 0.9% in July from the previous month, according to the monthly index released Thursday by the National Association of Realtors.

The figure exceeded expectations on Wall Street. Economists were expecting pending home sales to fall 0.5% in July.

Transactions were still down 14% from last year.

Pending home sales reflect transactions where the contract has been signed for the sale of an existing home, but the sale has not yet closed. Economists view it as an indicator for the direction of existing-home sales in subsequent months.

Big…

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"Austin is home to the 8th most attractive U.S. housing market, new report says"

CultureMap Austin writes, "when it comes to places to buy a house, Austin still remains near the top of the list. So says WalletHub's highly anticipated 2023 report on the best real estate markets in the U.S.

The new study by the personal finance website, released August 22, names Austin the No. 8 most attractive real estate market in the country. The state capital joins a host of other Texas cities within the top 10.

Texas housing markets have dominated WalletHub's report throughout the years, showing resilience as other markets rise and fall. Austin and its Central Texas neighbors have been at the top in similar reports, but the city has slid in WalletHub's 2023 report after ranking No. 4 in the 2022 edition and No. 2 in 2021.

With a great…

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"July data shows high interest rates not slowing Austin metro housing market"

Community Impact Austin reports, "while homes in cities across the Austin-Round Rock metropolitan statistical area have been hit with high interest rates in recent months, data from the Austin Board of Realtors shows that the market is continuing to stabilize.

According to July ABoR data for the metro, closed listings increased 0.6% year over year to 2,815 sales. Homes spent an average of 59 days on the market—37 more days compared to last year—and the number of new listings on the market also fell, but active listings and overall home inventory increased. Additionally, median home prices across the metro is down 10% for an average of $462,000.

The breakdown

In Travis County, year over year:

• There were 5.5% more sales, 15.8% more active listings…

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"What a more normal Austin housing market looks like"

Austin Business Journal writes, "Austin's housing market has had a full year of "normalization," experts say, but we aren't out of the woods yet.

After years of soaring prices and diminished inventory fueled by a pandemic-era buying frenzy, home prices began falling back toward more normal levels and inventory began rising in July 2022. Market observes have framed this as a return of more normal conditions, dictated by actual supply and demand and affected by typical season fluctuations.

A year later, what does that look like? The Austin Board of Realtors this week reported that the metro had a median sales price of $462,000 last month, down 10% from a year prior and much lower than the peak of $550,000 in April and May 2022.

Inventory, which…

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"Q&A: Austin Board of Realtors housing economist helps others ride the waves of Austin market"

Community Impact Austin shares, "Clare Losey joined the Austin Board of Realtors as its housing economist in March. She graduated from Texas A&M University with a PhD in August 2021 and previously worked at the Texas Real Estate Research Center. This interview has been edited for clarity and consistency.

What made you choose Austin?

I attended [The University of Texas] for undergrad and just really fell in love with Austin, and I love just the outdoorsy aspect of it. I think folks here tend to strike a happy medium; they tend to find jobs that they’re at least reasonably passionate about, but yet they have hobbies on the side that they really enjoy.

What do you do as a housing economist for the ABoR?

Much of what I do is focus just on digesting what’s…

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"High interest rates aren't deterring homebuyers in Austin"

CultureMap Austin writes, "real estate experts now have a much clearer picture regarding the resilience shown in Austin's housing market. The latest Austin Board of Realtors' (ABoR) report revealed that July 2022 was when the Austin-Round Rock housing market initially started stabilizing. If current trends continue, ABoR says 2023 will have a "strong finish."

"We now have a direct year-over-year comparison of when our market began stabilizing, and the big fluctuations we’ve previously seen have started to even out," said 2023 ABoR president Ashley Jackson in the report. "Potential buyers who have been on the fence about purchasing a home should know interest rates are settling, and now is the time to act."

Even with interest rates beginning to…

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