March 2023 Housing Market Update for Austin, TX MSA

[Bryan Noth]

March 2023 Housing Market Update for Austin, TX MSA

March 2023 statistics have been released for the Central Texas Housing market. There was an increase in median sales price from the preceding month and a decrease from the preceding year for the entire Austin Metropolitan Statistical Area.

The City of Austin saw a slight decrease in month to month median sale price from $530,000 to $529,495 a month to month decrease of $505 and a 15% decrease from the previous year. The Austin-Round Rock MSA saw a change in median sale price from $436,419 to $450,000 a month to month increase of $13,581 and a 13% decrease from the previous year. The MSA median home sale price has returned to the same number as January 2023, which was also $450,000.

The following infographics and data is courtesy of the Austin Board of Realtors:

Housing inventory for the MSA saw a further increase in available inventory from 2.6 months in February to 3.0 months in March, and a 2.5 months increase over the preceding year. The City of Austin saw an increase as well in month to month inventory from 2.2 months in February to 2.8 months in March, and a 2.3 months increase over the preceding year.

There was a slight increase in the Withdrawn and Expired listings for the month of March with 1,067 in total, though this is by volume only. With 2,804 total sales for the month of March the percentage of withdrawn/expired to sold sales comes down to 38% which is still high but is now trending downward from a nearly 1:1 ratio (98%) n January.

The Days on Market has decreased slightly from 84 to 80 days on average for the MSA and from 74 to 66 days for the City of Austin. The remaining sales data shows a more active market in March as compared to February, but less than was seen in 2022.

If you are watching broader market indicators the interest rates tend to show buyer activity fluctuating around the 6.5% mark. As rates climb above 6.5% buying activity tends to dwindle and when rates dip under 6.5% the buyer activity tends to increase (as indicated with mortgage applications as a marker of buyer sentiment whereas purchases would be a more lagging measure). This may indicate the market has found a balancing point between price and interest rate but that can change as there is a lot of economic juggling taking place right now.

Disclaimer: The information provided here is for educational purposes only, past performance is never a guarantee of future performance.