Luxe Austin Homes - sales

"Signed Contracts for U.S. Homes Rise for the Second Month in a Row"

Realtor.com reports, "the numbers: U.S. home sales inched up for the second month in a row, as the housing market continues to be hampered by high rates and a lack of home listings.

Pending home sales rose by 0.9% in July from the previous month, according to the monthly index released Thursday by the National Association of Realtors.

The figure exceeded expectations on Wall Street. Economists were expecting pending home sales to fall 0.5% in July.

Transactions were still down 14% from last year.

Pending home sales reflect transactions where the contract has been signed for the sale of an existing home, but the sale has not yet closed. Economists view it as an indicator for the direction of existing-home sales in subsequent months.

Big…

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"What’s next for the Austin housing market heading to fall 2023"

AUSTIN (KXAN) — "Mortgage rates have hit a 21-year high, and KXAN wanted to see what it could mean for Central Texans.

KXAN Anchor Jennifer Sanders spoke with Dr. Clare Losey, a housing economist with the Austin Board of Realtors, about key housing data, such as new and existing home sales.

JENNIFER: So as mortgage rates top 7% It’s a two-decade high. What does this really mean for homebuyers as well as homeowners here in Central Texas?

CLARE: Well, the primary effect of higher mortgage rates is on homebuyers purchasing power, right? So anytime the mortgage rate increases, it reduces the maximum home price affordable to any potential buyer. So, what we anticipate to see in Austin really in any housing market is just somewhat of a moderation in…

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"What a more normal Austin housing market looks like"

Austin Business Journal writes, "Austin's housing market has had a full year of "normalization," experts say, but we aren't out of the woods yet.

After years of soaring prices and diminished inventory fueled by a pandemic-era buying frenzy, home prices began falling back toward more normal levels and inventory began rising in July 2022. Market observes have framed this as a return of more normal conditions, dictated by actual supply and demand and affected by typical season fluctuations.

A year later, what does that look like? The Austin Board of Realtors this week reported that the metro had a median sales price of $462,000 last month, down 10% from a year prior and much lower than the peak of $550,000 in April and May 2022.

Inventory, which…

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"Home prices stabilize after historic highs in Southwest Austin area"

Community Impact Austin writes, "even as Southwest Austin remains among the most desirable and pricier areas of the metro to buy or rent, local data points to the housing market settling down after a recent burst of activity.

Movement toward a more balanced market has been underway since last year with observers crediting broader trends, such as rising interest rates, lasting inflation and more mild job growth, for spurring the changes. Every month in 2023 has seen local homes priced well below 2022 levels and taking longer to sell.

The days of new home listings drawing crowds and selling rapidly are not entirely over, some real estate experts said. Generally, they said buyers now have a better chance to explore their options thanks to narrowing…

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"Austin housing economist: forecast calls for cooling home prices, lower mortgage rates"

Shonda Novak of Austin American-Statesmant writes,  "last week, I attended the Austin Board of Realtors' second annual Central Texas Housing Summit. It was loaded with facts, figures, insights and prognostications about the Austin-area housing market. One panel featured the board's housing economist, Clare Losey; Mark Sprague, a longtime Central Texas housing market analyst with Independence Title; and Selma Hepp, CoreLogic's chief economist who gave a national economic update.

Below are a few takeaways with Losey's outlook for the Austin metro's housing market over the next several months. Losey made the comments in a weekly audio interview called "Driving It Home" that features Losey and the board's CEO, Emily Chenevert.

• Inflation will continue…

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"U.S. Pending Home Sales Fall but the Housing Market Is in Recovery Mode"

Realtor.com writes, "the numbers: U.S. pending-home sales fell in May, the National Association of Realtors said on Thursday but the housing market is still showing signs of being in recovery mode.

Demand for homes is still strong, despite mortgage rates hovering near 7%, but buyers are finding few properties for-sale to choose from as homeowners hold out on selling.

The shortage in housing inventory has become so dire that it’s pushed pending home sales down in the spring, which is generally the peak season for home-buying.

Sales fell by 2.7% from the previous month, according to the monthly index released Thursday by the National Association of Realtors (NAR).

The figure fell short of expectations on Wall Street. Economists expected…

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"How the 2023 spring housing market is shaping up"

Austin Business Journal reports, "the spring 2023 housing market is off to a different start than its 2021 and 2022 counterparts but several factors are converging to make it not quite a typical pre-pandemic market, either.

Total existing-home sales fell 2.4% from February to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.44 million in March, the National Association of Realtors said in a report last week. Year-over-year, sales activity fell 22%.

But while demand for housing has slowed in the wake of mortgage-rate increases that began late spring last year, inventory remains constrained, thanks to a persistent housing shortage and fewer people putting their homes on the market after locking in a low interest rate during the pandemic.

"The housing…

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"U.S. New Home Sales Surge 9.6% in March as Home Buyers Turn to Builders"

Realtor.com writes, "a lack of inventory has pushed U.S. home buyers to purchase new homes, prompting a surge in sales in March.

The strength in new home sales was also driven by a massive jump in sales in the Northeast. And overall, new home sales are trending higher as buyers have a low number of options with previously owned homes.

U.S. new home sales rose 9.6% to an annual rate of 683,000 in March, from a revised 623,000 in the prior month, the Commerce Department reported Tuesday. That’s at the highest level since last year.

The number is seasonally adjusted, and refers to how many homes would be built over an entire year if builders continue at the same pace every month.

The jump was better than what economists on Wall Street…

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"Is the Housing Market About To Hit Rock Bottom? Here’s What That Means, and Why We May Be Here for a While"

Realtor.com writes, "today’s housing market has been in some deep doldrums by many standards, but the latest real estate statistics suggest something more serious might be ahead—that the market might be careening toward some sort of rock bottom.

“Taken as a whole, this week’s data lines up with other indicators that are pointing to a potential bottom in housing market activity at a fairly low level,” notes Realtor.com® Chief Economist Danielle Hale in her most recent analysis.

The only upside we can think of is that there’s typically nowhere to go from there but up. So, does that mean the worst days of real estate will soon be over? Not quite, since the big four harbingers of housing—home prices, inventory, days on the market, and mortgage…

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"2023’s Housing Market Is Looking Up: 3 Things That Should Give Homebuyers Real Hope"

Realtor.com writes, "after suffering all-time lows during the COVID-19 pandemic, the supply of homes for sale has rebounded with a bang.

January marked a whopping 65% more real estate listings than this same month a year earlier, according to a recent inventory report from Realtor.com®.

And while home prices are still up year over year, they’ve declined from the pandemic peak. January’s median home list price clocked in at $400,000—holding steady since December but much lower than June’s record high of $449,000.

In addition to this deluge of homes for sale at more reasonable prices, mortgage rates are also down from their 20-year high, which broke 7% in November. For the week ending Jan. 26, Freddie Mac found that rates for a 30-year…

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