Austin MLS Trends

House Price Distribution in Southwest Austin

I chose a location in the heart of one of Austin’s fastest selling zipcodes – Dick Nichols park in 78749. This area had some of the shortest times on market anywhere in the US in 2008, so I wanted to check out the pricing distribution.

My method was simple – just look at 2008 sold data in the MLS for a an area within a 5 mile radius of the center of the park. The median sales price for this area in 2008 was $222, 750, with a high price of $3.4m.

This chart shows the price distribution:

As you can see, there are very few homes below the $100,000 mark, but that the largest home price band is aroun $180,000.

Useful resources:

• What’s my Austin Home Worth?
• see Austin TX Houses For Sale
  
• Contact an Austin Real Estate Agent

The Austin Housing Market – Annual Sales

Austin Home Sales By Year

The Austin Real Estate Market saw a decline in sales in 2008 compared to previous years as shown on the chart to the left.

While the number of listings which did not sell remained around the average for the last five years, proportionally more homes did not sell (listings were expired or withdrawn).

New home starts in Austin were down from 12,400 in 2007 to 8000 in 2008 and are predicted to be at around 6000  in 2009.

Did my Austin home go up or down in value? That really depends on your neighborhood and your home. The median price of sold houses actually dropped 0.87%  from 2007 to 2008, though this might not correlate to an actual drop in a particular home’s price.

Austin Homes - Median House Prices

The chart to the right shows the change in annual Austin house prices. Data for this article focuses on the single family residential market for houses in the City of Austin. The story for condos, town homes and duplexes is slightly different.

There is less new construction in Austin, but the area is experiencing growth. When the public perception is that there’s a buyer’s market, and consumer confidence returns, I would expect demand to return. With less housing supply, the market may recover quickly.

Useful resources:

• What’s my Austin Home Worth?
• see Austin TX Houses For Sale
  
• Contact an Austin Real Estate Agent

Central Austin Home Prices: Tarrytown

Tarrytown Annual House Listings

Tarrytown is a prestigious neighborhood in Central Austin with a wide range of home prices from $150,000 and up.

The chart on the left shows that a relatively high proportion of homes do not sell, which is partly a factor of the higher sales prices in Tarrytown.

Sales volume declined sharply in 2008, and the ratio of unsold homes went up, as it did in most areas of Austin. Homes worst affected were at the higher end of the market there.

Tarrytown Average Sales Price

The average sales price for a single family house in Tarrytown actually dropped in 2008 by about 3% over 2007.

Tarrytown remains a desirable location in Central Austin, and while interest rates are low, I expect move-up buyers to take advantage of the market in Tarrytown.

• More information about the Tarrytown neighborhood
• see Tarrytown Homes For Sale
• An updated market snapshot of Tarrytown

Are Austin Home Prices Going to Fall in 2009?

What is happening with home prices in Austin? We’ve seen huge swings in home pricings in the rest of the US, but was there ever a real estate bubble in Austin, Texas?

Courtesy New York Times - Las Vegas Home Prices

A picture paints a thousand words, so if you’re a firm believer in ‘what goes up must come down’, take a look at this neat interactive home price graph in the New York Times. It charts data collected from the Case-Shiller home price index. The index tracks single family home sales in 20 US cities.

Courtesy New York Times - Dallas House Prices

Now real estate is extremely local, so I’m not suggesting that Dallas home price fluctuations are like Austin home price changes. Given that the Texas economy is often considered to be one of the best performing in the US right now, it might be that the trends in Dallas are closer to those in Austin. More so than say Las Vegas.

Dallas has seen modest growth and modest decline in comparison to Las Vegas. There’s no surprise that cities that showed stable growth before 2006 are only seeing mild fluctuations. Check out the graphs and let me know what you think!

To answer the question, Austin home prices may continue to fall slightly, though personally I’m not expecting anything as severe as falls in Las Vegas!

Get a FREE update market snapshot of your Austin neighborhood.
Search for available Austin homes for sale.

Central Austin Home Prices: Hyde Park

Hyde Park is a favored spot in Austin for its closeness to UT and wide range of housing options.  The number of Hyde Park homes sold in 2008 was lower than in the previous five years. Less than half the number of single family homes sold in 2008 than did in 2006 or 2003.

How have house prices held up in the last few years in Hyde Park? Find out at the Central Austin and East Austin homes blog.

Useful links:

• Homes For Sale in Hyde Park area
• Updated Market Snapshot of Hyde Park

Central Austin Home Prices: Brentwood

Brentwood Annual Home Sales

Brentwood is a thriving neighborhood in North Central Austin containing a great park and some original Austin landmarks like Threadgills.

Here are some statistics which show trends in the housing market for single family homes in Brentwood.

Over the last two years, home sales have slowed with sales in 2008 less than half of those in 2006. The number of listings which didn’t sell (either expired or withdrawn) has increased dramatically, and the ratio of unsuccessful listings (those that don’t sell) to successful listings (those that sell) has risen from 16% in 2006 to 110% in 2008.

Statistically in 2008 your single family home sale was more likely to fail than succeed.

Brentwood Average Home Prices

So where’s the good news? The Brentwood homes that did sell in 2008 sold with an average time on market of 38 days, which is the fastest in 5 years.  So the homes that were priced, staged and marketed correctly achieved sales quickly.

The other good news is that average selling prices are still rising in Brentwood as show above.

Useful links:

• Read more about the Brentwood Neighborhood
• see Brentwood Homes For Sale
• An updated market snapshot of Brentwood

Far South Austin Update

Austin MLS Area 10S is the area between Mopac to the West and I35 to the East. To the North is William Cannon and Slaughter Lane is to the South. Let’s take a look at sales in the area in the last five years.

On the left we see that the rise in average sold prices has slowed down in 2008. The area is still outperforming Greater Austin.

The chart on the right shows the decline in home sales in far South Austin in the last two years.

In 2008 a similar number to 2007 homes that were marketed did not sell. The proportion of listings expiring or withdrawn was higher due to the smaller number of sales.

Statistically, it was harder to sell a home in 2008 than it was in 2006 or 2007.

Get a FREE update market snapshot of your Austin neighborhood.
Search for available Austin homes for sale.

Austin Home Price Data

The key thing about Austin Home Price Data is that it is very specific to the area it relates to. That’s why I offer an automated tool to review the recent market activity.

I’m a Realtor® and I have access to the MLS and a slew of tools to analyze data from it. I share some of these tools with my clients. Buyers and sellers in today’s market want to keep abreast of prices in these somewhat uncertain times. And they deserve new tools to do it with.

Check back in a few weeks when I get my market snapshot for areas in Austin up and running.

Austin MLS Trends – Market Snapshot

The Austin housing market has not been as volatile as other parts of the US in the housing crash of 2007 and 2008. In fact, median house prices in Austin have remained buoyant. Sales volume is generally lower than in previous years.

The thing about the Austin housing market is that like any home selling market, it is extremely localized. While builders in the rest of the country have ground to a halt, in Austin there are pockets of extremely liquid home sales. Such as in Mueller Austin, where buidlers are still actively constructing.

The key then is that Austin’s submarkets should be considered individually. Part of the new wave of real estate tools, real estate 4.0 is the ability to integrate graphical views of a location with recent MLS data. This is what this site is all about: Austin MLS Trends, and giving basic tools to investors, buyers and sellers with which they can analyze their target areas.

Austin Home Data

Austin Texas Homes: Want to find out what the home prices are in your area? Want to find the best deals, and spot up and comign areas? Worried that your home values have dropped?

This is the place to find out information about Austin home values – what’s happening in the market and what is happening in the MLS.