Grossman & Jones Real Estate Blog - real estate

"Some median home prices increase in Lake Travis, Westlake in September"

Community Impact writes, "a few ZIP codes in the Lake Travis-Westlake market saw an increase in home sales and median home prices compared to last year, according to data from the Austin Board of Realtors.

While prices and sales were down across the market, there were a few outliers. Homes in 78732 saw the biggest price jump at over 17% year over year. Sales were also up the highest year over year in this ZIP code by 40%.

Median prices in 78733 dropped the most in the market, going for $1.5 million last September to just under $900,000 this September.

Sales in the market were also a mixed bag. Homes in 78746 sold 15 homes both last year and this year. For the remaining six ZIP codes, three had more home sales than last year, and three had fewer sales…

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"10 Things Most Homebuyers Get Wrong About Getting a Mortgage Today"

Realtor.com writes, "while buying a home has always been a challenging milestone, today’s high interest rates have made this dream even harder to achieve.

Over the past two years, interest rates on home loans have nearly doubled from the 3% range to around 7% today. This tacks many hundreds extra onto the monthly expense of housing, stretching some homebuyers’ budgets to the breaking point. And while there are ways to lower those costs, navigating the home loan process is extremely complicated—particularly for first-time homebuyers.

“It’s very important for first-timers to do research and understand all their options before they start looking for a home,” says Cara Ameer, a real estate agent with Coldwell Banker who is licensed in California and…

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"Where tens of thousands of new apartments will rise between Austin, San Antonio"

Austin Business Journal reports, "the San Antonio and Austin metros have more more than 55,000 apartment units under construction, highlighting the immense fortune developers are poring into the emerging metroplex.

Just looking at the I-35 corridor between the two big cities, 23,000-plus units are proposed, under construction or have come online in the past 12 months, according to data from MRI ApartmentData, a multifamily analytics firm tracking Sun Belt markets.

That shows multifamily developers and investors are eager to keep pouring money into dense housing in the region. To be sure, there are thousands of single-family homes in the pipeline as well, although many experts have said denser, more affordable housing is desperately needed to…

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"Housing Market Predictions For 2023: When Will Home Prices Be Affordable Again?"

Forbes.com writes, "though winter may still be months away, housing market activity—already cooling due to eye-popping home prices and interest rates—may be on the verge of a deep freeze.

The national average 30-year mortgage rate rose to a 23-year high of 7.49% in the first week of October, according to Freddie Mac.

Given current rate conditions, it’s no wonder that year-over-year existing home sales sagged for the third consecutive month, slipping by 0.7%, with all four major U.S. regions posting declines, according to the National Association of Realtors (NAR).

Nonetheless, the housing market remains competitive for prospective buyers. With many homeowners “locked in” at low interest rates and unwilling to sell, demand continues to exceed…

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"Is the Housing Market Overvalued? What Buyers Need To Know"

Realtor.com writes, "is the housing market overvalued?

It’s an increasingly fraught question, and the answer might depend on who’s being asked.

Some real estate experts believe home prices are well above what they should be and expect them to begin coming down. Others think the high prices make sense given how many people are still in the market looking for properties, despite mortgage rates nearing 8%.

“If you look at how much income homebuyers are putting toward their housing payment, if the number is not the highest ever, it’s really darn close,” says Realtor.com® Chief Economist Danielle Hale.

No one wants to buy a home at the peak of the market—and then watch the home value trickle down.

Homes in 98 of the 100 largest housing…

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"Millions of homes are vacant in large cities across America"

Austin Business Journal writes, "there are millions of homes sitting empty across America at a time when inventory and affordability are squeezing the nation's housing market.

According to a recent analysis of U.S. Census Bureau 2022 American Community Survey data by LendingTree Inc., there are nearly 5.5 million vacant housing units in the nation's 50 largest metro areas. That puts the housing vacancy rate across those metros at about 8%.

But the reasons why millions of homes are sitting vacant at a time when the nation's housing market is starved of inventory and home prices remain high — the median price of new houses sold in August was $430,300, down slightly from $436,600 a month prior — are varied and nuanced.

The study found, on…

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"Compass adds 630 agents, acquiring firm that did $5B last year"

TheRealDeal reports, "on the heels of its first cash-flow positive quarter as a public company, Compass is taking a big bite out of the Central Texas resi market. 

The firm has acquired Realty Austin and Realty San Antonio, an independent brokerage that posted $5.24 billion in sales last year. With the purchase, Compass expands its Texas headcount by about 630 agents and absorbs one of the region’s top brokerages. The sale price was not disclosed. 

Local leadership will stay in control of day-to-day operations, according to a news release. The Realty brokerages are led by Gabe Richter and were co-founded by Jonathan Boatwright and Yvette Flores. 

The firms said they expect Compass’ technology will help Realty Austin and Realty San Antonio get…

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"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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"How much does real estate agent experience matter? Here's what the data says."

Austin Business Journal shares, "real estate agent experience levels — and how they are paid — can make a huge difference in the housing market.

A new working paper from the National Bureau of Economic Research by Sophia Gilbukh, an assistant professor of real estate at Baruch College, and Paul Goldsmith-Pinkham, assistant professor of finance at Yale University, studied 8.5 million transactions from 2001 to 2014. The study found homes listed by inexperienced agents were less likely to sell — and the current flat commission structure created a large number of inexperienced agents that drag down home sellers and stunt the housing market, in good times and bad.

Overall, the working paper found, listings with agents within the bottom 10% of…

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"For Pearlstone Partners, $700 million in new investment is on tap for Austin market"

Austin American-Statesman writes, "Pearlstone Partners is doubling down on its commitment to growing in Austin.

Over the next three years, the Austin-based real estate investment firm said it plans to add three new projects totaling upwards of $700 million to its expanding portfolio. The new developments will further redefine the skyline and urban living in the city, Pearlstone officials say.

The privately held Pearlstone — one of the largest providers of for-sale housing in and near downtown Austin —already has invested about $500 million in two completed residential projects and three that are under construction.

Now, it is seeking capital partners for three future projects. The planned projects will add an additional $700 million to…

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