Luxe Austin Homes - metro

"Fed rate cut could boost Austin housing market"

Austin Business Journal shares, "The Federal Reserve has lowered rates by a quarter point, a welcome sign for homebuyers.

The federal funds rate is now 4% to 4.25%, according to a Sept. 17 announcement, marking the Fed's first rate cut since December. The cut comes as economic indicators point to the growth of economic activity moderating in the first half of the year, job gains slowing and the national unemployment rate increasing to 4.3%, according to the announcement.

Lowering the rate could have an impact on housing affordability in the Austin metro, where the median price of a home was $444,490 in August, 1.3% more than the year prior.

“Even a small rate shift can improve affordability and prompt more buyers to re-enter the market, a…

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"Where are new homes planned in the Austin metro?"

Austin Business Journal shares, "Some Austin suburbs promise new homes aplenty.

The Austin Business Journal reached out to the city of Austin and its 19 biggest suburbs to survey them on how many single-family homes they report in their development pipelines. Cities measure that differently, and the number includes counts at various stages of entitlement and construction. It's an imperfect science, but it helps gauge how cities are preparing for what's to come in their backyards.

Cities like Kyle (nearly 44,000 homes) and Georgetown (nearly 32,000) have robust pipelines. Taylor (about 8,500) and Buda (about 6,600) are next in line. Meanwhile, Cedar Park is nearing capacity and only reported 200.

Among the highest is Lockhart. The city grew…

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"Austin homebuyers gaining negotiating power"

Austin Business Journal writes, "Homebuyers in the Austin area are gaining the advantage as competition heats up among sellers.

The metro's housing inventory continues to hover around the six-month mark and new listings have increased 43.6% year-over-year to 17,662 active home listings, according to Unlock MLS’s latest market report. However, the median sale price of a home in Austin in June was flat at $450,000 compared to the same time last year.

“We’re not 100% in a buyer’s market, but we’re pretty close,” said Brandy Wuensch, 2025 Unlock MLS and Austin Board of Realtors president. “Buyers definitely have more power to negotiate and get a lot more favorable terms from sellers in terms of closing costs.”

Sellers are having to become more…

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"Austin takes top spot as 'best-performing' US city"

Austin Business Journal reports, "the Austin area has retaken the top spot on the Milken Institute's prestigious 2024 Best-Performing Cities list.

Such a listing will undoubtedly draw the eyes of people looking for a new place to live or start a business, and it combats anyone's perception that Austin has passed its prime.

The index from the nonprofit think tank has been published annually since 1999 and ranks cities on a variety of metrics, including job creation, wage growth and output growth. Designed to help the public and private sectors evaluate and compare cities throughout the nation, the list is particularly handy for Realtors, job recruiters and site selectors.

Austin's position this year at the summit of Milken's largest cities…

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"Are bidding wars over? Here's how many Austin homebuyers are paying above asking price"

Austin Business Journal writes, "while high interest rates are prompting many sellers to drop prices at a record pace nationally, 13% of homes in the Austin metro are still selling above the listing price.

That's according to a new analysis of data from Redfin Corp., which found 32% of homes nationally sold above listing price in October — up 2.7 percentage points from a year ago.

As we've noted, a variety of factors suggest the housing market is shifting to give buyers more leverage in many markets. However, prices remain significantly elevated and, in many metros, are still on the rise — just not at the rapid pace of recent years.

In the Austin metro, homes sold for an average of 97% of the listing price in October.

Housing supply and…

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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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"Suburbs are setting the pace for migration. But patterns are shifting."

Austin Business Journal writes, "when it comes to population growth during the Covid-19 era, large suburbs are shining. Urban centers and rural counties? Not so much.

That’s according to new data from the U.S. Census Bureau with updated population estimates for 2022. 

Nationally, counties with populations of at least 250,000 in 2020 grew by an average of 0.84% between 2020 and 2022. For all counties, the average was 0.44%.

But a closer look at the data shows the strongest growth was generally in ring counties — suburban counties located within the nation's largest metro areas.

Among counties with at least 250,000 residents, the top counties for percentage growth were St. Johns County, Florida (located in metro Jacksonville); Hays County,…

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"Austin housing prices are down one year after setting spring records"

Austin Business Journal writes, "one year after setting a median sales price record of $550,000 last April, housing prices are down in the metro.

The median sales price in the Austin area was $466,705, a 15% year-over-year decrease that amounts to $83,295, according to the Austin Board of Realtors April market report. And while prices have been trending up in recent months, the year-over-year decrease is a welcome signal to Central Texas, which saw housing prices skyrocket at unsustainable rates during the Covid-19 pandemic to a level where many buyers were over-bidding on property. It wasn't uncommon for a $400,000 home to sell for closer to $500,000 in recent years.

“This is still a market that is seeing lots of activity, just not at a…

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"Austin's apartment construction rate is the highest in the nation, says new report"

CultureMap Austin writes, "if you think new apartment buildings have been popping up nonstop all around the city within the last couple of years, you’d be right. The Austin-Round Rock metro area is experiencing one of the biggest apartment construction booms in the nation, in an effort to alleviate an ongoing affordability crisis.

But while increasing multi-family housing is solving part of the problem, long term it keeps homeownership out of arm’s reach for younger Americans. That’s according to a new report from apartment rental “matchmaker” and marketplace Apartment List.

Austin has spent decades building more housing for its residents, and 2022 saw the highest number – 18.3 – of new unit permits being issued per thousand residents. Austin’s…

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"Zillow says Austin’s housing market is now ‘ice cold,’ Austin Board of Realtors says no way"

KXAN Austin writes, "just days after the Austin Board of Realtors said the local housing market is starting to “rebalance,” Zillow has released a much harsher outlook: the Austin market is now “ice cold.”

The characterization comes as Zillow released its market report for December 2022.

The report shows homes in the Austin area are spending a median of 68 days on the market, more than in any other major metro nationwide. Back in December 2021, Zillow reported homes in the area were on the market for a median of 22 days.

Another metric in the report shows homes aren’t selling for as much as they used to. In November, just 11% of listings sold for higher than the asking price, down from 47% a year before.

That may be leading some homeowners…

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