Grossman & Jones Real Estate Blog - real estate

"The 'sweet spot' for frustrated homebuyers is on the horizon"

Austin Business Journal writes, "The best time of the year to buy a home is coming up, giving frustrated house hunters an increased chance to close a desired deal.

The week of October 12-18 is what Realtor.com is calling the “sweet spot” for home shoppers. Why? A rare combination of higher inventory, lower prices and less competition makes it ideal for buyers. And even though it's not exactly a buyer's market overall, the improved buying conditions could feel like a breath of fresh air for prospective buyers.

"After years of constrained conditions, the 2025 housing market is giving buyers something they haven't had in a long time: options," said Danielle Hale, chief economist at Realtor.com, in a statement. "I expect this market momentum shift…

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"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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"Profits on home flipping are falling — but some areas are beating the odds"

Austin Business Journal reports, "Home flippers are seeing their profits shrink dramatically, plummeting to the lowest point in years.

The latest report from ATTOM, which provides property data and analytics, found that home flippers netted a 25.1% return on investment before expenses in the second quarter, the lowest margin ATTOM has recorded since the second quarter of 2008. It's also down from a high point of a 62.9% in fall 2012.

Gross profit, the difference between what a flipper paid for a property and what they sold it for, also has dropped. The typical flipped home netted $65,300 in the second quarter, about 4% less than the first quarter and 13.6% less than the second quarter of 2024.

The culprit? High home prices that push flippers…

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"Austin is becoming a buyer's market, new real estate reports say"

CultureMap Austin shares, "the latest Central Texas Housing Report from Unlock MLS and the Austin Board of Realtors (ABoR) has indicated Austin's real estate activity in August is portraying a "more balanced" housing market with an increase in active listings, stable prices, and a rise in pending sales. And two national marketplaces, Zillow and Realtor.com, have already recently declared Austin is now a buyer's market.

The local housing report analyzed August data across the Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos metropolitan statistical area (MSA), the city of Austin, and the five Central Texas counties: Travis, Williamson, Hays, Bastrop, and Caldwell.

Across the Austin metro, median home prices in August rose just 1.3 percent year-over-year to $444,490,…

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"7 Major Cities Are Now Buyer’s Markets—but Delistings Continue To Rise"

Realtor.com writes,"Summer ended with a standoff between reluctant buyers and frustrated sellers—but this fall, house hunters can be a bit more optimistic as seven of the 50 biggest metros become buyer's markets.

The national housing market reached a balance of five months of supply—the first summer to do so since Realtor.com® began tracking this data nine years ago, according to the August 2025 Monthly Housing Market Trends report.

What does that mean in simple terms? The months of supply metric represents how many months it would take for all the for-sale homes on the market (including pending listings) to be sold at the current sales pace. 

The higher the months of supply, the slower the market—and the more negotiating power buyers have. 

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"Austin has the 7th best housing market among large U.S. cities in 2025"

CultureMap Austin writes, "As if people needed more reasons to move to Austin: The Texas capital ranked No. 7 on WalletHub's just-released list of the best large real estate markets in 2025.

In a separate WalletHub list of 300 U.S. housing markets of various sizes, Austin ranked 18th. For this list, the personal finance website examined 300 U.S. cities based on 17 metrics including each city's real estate market, housing affordability, and economic environment.

The "large market" rankings included 68 U.S. cities with populations greater than 300,000 residents.

Last year, Austin was the 12th best real estate market in America overall, and it was the third-best out of all large U.S. cities.

This is how WalletHub broke down Austin's 2025…

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"Mortgage Costs Weigh On Buyers as Fed Signals Rate Cut: What It Means for Housing"

Realtor.com writes, "Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell suggested at the central bank's Jackson Hole Symposium on Friday that policy shifts may be coming, reinforcing expectations that rate cuts could arrive as early as September. 

His remarks highlighted the balancing act between curbing inflation and supporting employment, a dynamic that has far-reaching effects on consumer borrowing costs.

For the housing market, those costs remain a critical pressure point. Despite recent income gains, higher mortgage rates have slashed buyer purchasing power, reshaped demand, and left builders navigating an uneven recovery. 

Even though mortgage rates are still a headwind, existing-home sales rose in July, getting just past a 4 million sales pace. Home…

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"230 homes sold across Georgetown's 3 area ZIP codes in July"

Community Impact reports, "This July, 230 homes sold across Georgetown's three area ZIP codes, according to recently released data from the Austin Board of Realtors and Unlock MLS.

Diving in deeper

While this is the same number of homes that sold in July 2024, the distribution of homes sold across each ZIP code varied.

ZIP code 78626 saw nine more homes sold year over year, while ZIP code 78628 and 78633 saw two and seven home declines, respectively.

The majority of all homes sold—137 of them across all three ZIP codes—sold for between $300,000-$499,999. However, homes sold at each of the following price points.

By the numbers

The median price of homes sold declined in two of Georgetown's three area ZIP codes, while ZIP code 78633…

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"Homebuyers are gaining leverage — but the minimum income to buy is surging"

Austin Business Journal writes, "Americans now need to earn $114,000 per year to afford a median priced home.

That's an increase of 70.1% above the $67,000 required to afford that same mid-range home in 2019, according to data from Realtor.com. It's an increase driven by sky-high appreciation, persistent supply constraints and stubbornly high interest rates, among other factors — and the dynamic continues to weigh heavily on the housing market, even as buyers gain leverage.

The data looked at median home prices each April for the past six years.

“Even with today’s affordability hurdles, meaningful changes in the market could give buyers a better shot at finding a home,” said Danielle Hale, chief economist at Realtor.com. “The number of homes…

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"Analysis quantifies impact on rents when apartment supply increases"

Austin Business Journal shares, "Apartment rents typically drop when new units are added to a market's housing supply, but a new analysis quantifies by how much.

The study by the Pew Charitable Trusts on rent changes in major U.S. cities from 2017 to 2024 determined that for every 10% increase in a ZIP code’s housing supply, rent growth was 1.4% less compared to a ZIP code that had no additional housing supply. The Pew analysis also found that a 10% increase in a market's housing supply correlated to rents growing 5% less from 2017 to 2024.

In Austin, which has undergone an apartment building boom in recent years, the biggest rent declines were for older and lower-quality units, the study found.

Alex Horowitz, project director of housing…

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