Luxe Austin Homes - sales

"How Austin fits into Zillow's predicted housing market growth in 2025"

CultureMap Austin writes, "It looks like a few more people are about to turn their online home shopping daydreams into reality in 2025. Zillow, the famous real estate listings website, says in a press release that next year will likely bring "a gradual but bumpy decline in rates, impacting sales and price growth."

It attributes the forecast to "erratic and dramatic mortgage rate movements" throughout 2024, which will continue to affect the market. The website's housing market predictions report estimates that 2025 will see about 100,000 more sales than 2024, that home value growth will be "low and slow" at 2.2 percent, and that inventory and new listings will continue recovering from pandemic weakness.

On a local scale, Zillow's latest data…

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"Austin metro's hottest housing markets ranked"

Austin Business Journal shares, "Neighborhoods on the shores of Lake Travis, in Round Rock and in Driftwood are among the hottest housing markets in the Austin area.

That's according to The Business Journals' inaugural hottest housing markets ranking, which is based on third-quarter listing and sales data from Intercontinental Exchange Inc.

The ranking is intended to emphasize sales and pricing momentum in individual ZIP codes, using a weighted formula that includes quarterly and year-over-year comparisons. Only ZIP codes with complete data were included in the analysis. You can read more about the methodology at the bottom of this story.

Using those criteria, Austin’s 78726 ZIP code was found to have the most momentum in the metro. Located…

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"Latest Drop in Mortgage Rates May Motivate Home Buyers"

Realtor Magazine writes, "Prospective home buyers may be enticed to move forward on a home purchase as mortgage rates fall. The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 6.09% this week, down more than 150 basis points from earlier this year.

“Mortgage rates continued declining towards the 6% mark, reviving purchase and refinance demand for many consumers,” says Sam Khater, Freddie Mac’s chief economist.

Mortgage rates have been closely watched this week after the Federal Reserve’s announcement on Wednesday that it's cutting its short-term benchmark rate. “While mortgage rates do not directly follow moves by the Federal Reserve, this first cut in over four years will have an impact on the housing market,” Khater says. “Declining mortgage rates over…

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"Austin home prices rise, but so do choices for buyers"

Austin Business Journal writes, "As spring rolls on, Austin’s housing inventory continues to grow.

April saw an increase in active and new home listings in the region, as well as pending and closed sales, according to the most recent market data from Unlock MLS published on the Austin Board of Realtors' website.

Unfortunately for home buyers, the median sales price of a home in the metro also creeped up in an already-pricey environment due to elevated interest rates. Still, the increase in inventory has resulted in an uptick in the number of home for sale at many price points, even those priced more affordably.

“The MSA experienced an increase in sales, indicating more opportunity in the market for all buyers,” stated Clare Losey, Unlock MLS…

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"Nearly 300 condos heading to trendy South Congress"

Austin Business Journal reports, "Intracorp Homes has unveiled new details about its upcoming condo development on bustling South Congress Avenue.

Intracorp, one of the most active condo developers in the city, confirmed the project late last year but declined to provide additional information at the time as it worked its way through planning stages. On April 2, the developer announced details, including number of units, costs and the entities working on it. The company also said a final general contractor hasn't been selected.

Leland South Congress, as the project is called, will rise seven stories on about 3 acres spread across four lots at the intersection of South Congress Avenue and Live Oak Street.

The development will add 270 condos to…

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"Existing-Home Sales Surge in a Positive Sign for This Year’s Housing Market"

Realtor.com writes, "This year’s housing market is off to a strong start.

Sales of existing homes, which exclude new construction, jumped 9.5% from January to February, according to a recent report from the National Association of Realtors®. That was the largest month-over-month increase in a year.

However, sales did dip a little annually, coming down 3.3% from February 2023.

The surge in monthly closings is likely due to the drop in mortgage rates, which began declining last fall. This brought more buyers into the market and, importantly, might have persuaded more homeowners to sell their properties. As most sellers are also buyers, many have been reluctant to trade a low mortgage rate for a higher one.

Mortgage rates averaged 6.87% for…

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"eXp, Compass top 2024 RealTrends Verified brokerage rankings for second year"

HOUSINGWIRE reports, "2023 was a consequential year for real estate. The market grappled with low inventory and mortgage rates that gave many homebuyers a reason to pause. According to Altos Research, 2023 inventory bottomed in April at 406,206 active listings. 

Today, there are 100,000 more homes on the market than there were in March of last year — that’s 21% inventory growth. HousingWire reports that housing inventory is on pace to grow 40% in 2024, bringing the market slightly closer to a healthy equilibrium. 

Each year, RealTrends Verified identifies the country’s most successful residential real estate brokerages, teams and agents – verifying transaction sides and closed sales volume for top-performing real estate brokerages — to give you the…

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"Mortgage rates hold steady to start 2024. Is an uptick in the housing market on its way?"

Austin Business Journal writes, "the nation's for-sale housing market is off to a mixed start this year after a 2023 that proved largely challenging for homebuyers.

Existing-home sales ended 2023 down about 19% from the prior year, according to data from the National Association of Realtors. While the number of transactions declined, prices rose in most metro areas through the end of the year, and that trend appears to be holding up early into 2024.

In fact, single-family existing-home sale prices rose in 86% of metro areas measured by the NAR — or 189 of 221 — in the fourth quarter. That's up from 82% in the third quarter.

At the end of 2023, the national median single-family existing-home price was up 3.5% from the year prior, to $391,700.

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"Austin housing market collected $17.5 billion in 2023 despite sales drop, says report"

Culturemap Austin writes, "Austin's hot real estate market is still trying to balance itself out after a full year of cooling prices. But even after that, it's accounting for nearly $17.5 billion in economic activity in 2023, according to the latest report from the Austin Board of Realtors (ABoR).

The final report of 2023 wrapped up the Austin-Round Rock metro area's performance and compared it to 2022's statistics. The findings show the median prices in the Austin area decreased 10.2 percent year-over-year to $450,000.

As another good sign for what's ahead for homebuyers in the coming year, 2024 ABoR president Kent Redding said housing inventory in the Austin-Round Rock MSA has increased to the highest it's been in more than eight years.

"In…

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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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