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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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"Homes in Austin metro are taking longer to sell than they have in more than a decade"

KXAN reports, "the Austin housing market has “shifted and started to rebalance,” with homes now spending an average of more than two months on the market.

The Austin Board of Realtors President Ashley Jackson made the comments in the December edition of the board’s monthly housing market report, released Wednesday.

“December tells us a lot about how the market has shifted and started to rebalance as there was a sales price drop and a staggering increase in how long homes take to sell,” Jackson said.

Homes that sold in December spent an average of 73 days on the market, almost triple the average from a year ago. The average is the highest since March 2012 — almost 11 years ago — when homes took on average 83 days to sell, according to ABoR…

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"Real Estate CEOs, Economists & Other Experts Predict a “Less Crazy” Housing Market in 2023, But Expect Any Improvements to be Gradual"

Yahoo Finance writes, "while there is no clear consensus about what will happen to mortgage rates and home sales in 2023, the real estate experts from organizations like the Mortgage Bankers Association, Zillow, Taylor Morrison, and others surveyed in Point’s 2023 Real Estate Expert Survey agree 2023 will likely bring less volatility to the real estate market. But any improvement will be slow.

Point asked experts about where mortgage rates will land this year; what will happen to existing-home sales; and what advice they would give home buyers and sellers.

Key findings include:

• About three-quarters of the respondents expect the average 30-year fixed mortgage rate to stay below 7% in June 2023. By December, every respondent believes rates…

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"Mortgage rates drop again, creating opportunity for homebuyers: Freddie Mac"

Fox Business reports, "mortgage rates dropped back down again last week and even though it was slight, the decrease had an impact on homebuyer demand, according to Freddie Mac.

The average rate for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage fell to 6.33% for the week ending Jan. 12, according to Freddie Mac's Primary Mortgage Market Survey. This was a decrease from the previous week when it averaged 6.48% but remains significantly higher than last year when it was 3.45%.

The average rate for a 15-year mortgage was 5.52% last week, down from 5.73% the week before and up from 2.62% last year.  

Mortgage rates have fluctuated in the 6% to 7% range since September, Freddie Mac's data shows. Even though the changes are incremental from week-to-week, the…

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"Buyers rejoice: Austin-area housing market ends streak of record-setting prices, sales"

Austin Business Journal reports, 'the median sales price of a home in the Austin-Round Rock metro was essentially unchanged in November from a year prior, the first time that's happened since February 2019, according to the Austin Board of Realtors.

The median price actually decreased, but just barely at 0.4%, to $467,955 — compared with $470,000 in November 2021, ABOR said Dec. 15. It's the latest sign of a cooling trend in the region's housing market, which is also seeing increased inventory and time spent on the market.

Ashley Jackson, an agent with Realty Austin and 2023 president-elect of ABOR, last month told Austin Business Journal there's hope the moderate adjustments are signs of a return to a more normal, seasonal market — as opposed…

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"46K new housing units possible on unlocked Austin land — but zoning change doesn't go far enough, builder says"

Austin Business Journal reports, "builders in Austin can now take advantage of a change in city code that will allow for the development of residential properties on land zoned for commercial use.

The change to the land development code, which Austin City Council approved on Dec. 2, carries major implications for real estate firms, significantly expanding the market for development. It also represents another avenue for cutting into Austin's housing shortage: city staffers previously estimated this decision could allow for the creation of 46,324 new homes.

Developers will still need to apply to build residential projects in commercial areas and will have to meet certain criteria, including around affordability. The change incentivizes the…

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"Fewer sales, moderate price growth: Here's what Austin housing market could look like in 2023"

Austin Business Journal writes, "after a wild couple of years, the Austin-area housing market could be in store for a relatively modest 2023.

Realtor.com predicted that the volume of local home sales will actually fall 6.6% next year, compared with 2022, while prices will grow 3%.

Ashley Jackson, president-elect of the Austin Board of Realtors, said there's hope that more moderate adjustments are a sign of Austin's return to a normal, seasonal market — as opposed to the dramatics seen in 2021 and part of 2022, when Austin became one of the top pandemic relocation destinations.

Median home sale price in the Austin metro peaked at a record $550,000 in April and May, but had fallen to $474,990 by October, according to ABOR data. Winter is…

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"15 Austin ZIP codes now dominated by renters not homeowners"

Austin Business Journal writes, "if you live in either the 78727 or 78744 ZIP code, odds are you’re renting.

That's according to an Oct. 24 study from RentCafe, which found that from 2010 to 2020, those two ZIPs transitioned from having a majority of homeowners to a majority of renters. There are now 15 ZIP codes in the Austin area with renting majorities, signifying how the evolution of Austin into a big city is changing its economic makeup.

North Austin’s 78727, which eats up a large part of town north of The Domain neighborhood, had a population consisting of about 51% renters in 2020. Its 2020 renter population of 16,285 was a 21% jump from the 13,413 who called the ZIP code home in 2011, RentCafe found. The rental search platform used data…

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"Austin housing market continues to stabilize, fueled by skyrocketing inventory and 'normal' price growth"

According to CultureMap Austin, "For the third month in a row, the Austin Board of Realtors reports that the local housing market is returning to normal. Following the unprecedented price growth experienced in early 2022, the market is shifting back to a normal pace, fueled by skyrocketing inventory and normalized home price appreciation.

The latest monthly report shows that in August 2022, the metro's median home price jumped 5.5 percent year over year, to $496,038. While a record high for the month of August, ABOR says the growth "[indicates] a normalization of home price appreciation that economists say is consistent with historical norms."

In the city of Austin, the median price grew 3.6 percent year over year to $555,000; Travis County's…

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