Mid-Year 2018 Market Report

[David Ivy]

The June/Mid-Year 2018 Central Texas Housing Market Report is out from the Austin Board of REALTORS® (ABoR). The Austin area displayed strong, steady growth in the first half of 2018. Tight housing inventory and high demand has us trending toward another record-breaking year. However, the consistently rising prices and limited supply actually led to year-over-year declines for June 2018 in median prices, number of sales, new & active listings, and total dollar sales volume. The median price for a single-family home in Austin in June was $388,000, which was slightly down year-over-year from 2017.

Steve Crorey, 2018 ABoR president, put this into context: "Despite a decline in home sales volume across Central Texas in June, 2018 is on track to be another record-setting year for the region’s housing market. Consecutive years of record-breaking sales activity have set the bar incredibly high, and it’s important to remember that we’re comparing June 2018 figures to that strong activity. The Central Texas housing market remains strong and continues to move at a demanding pace.”

Here are basic stats on single-family home sales for June 2018 for the City of Austin and the greater Austin area:

So far, Austin's affordability and housing supply challenges have not reached a level significant enough to cause short-term worries about the market's sustainability. Rising mortgage interest rates have also yet to apply much pressure. As Jim Gaines, chief economist at the TAMU Real Estate Center, said, "The Central Texas housing market is among the top three in the country. The region’s population growth, particularly along the I-35 corridor, is fueled by diversified economic opportunities that bring jobs, new businesses, and resources across multiple industries. Strong population growth and home sales activity are expected to continue in the Central Texas region for the rest of the year and into 2019.”