July 2019 Austin Market Report

[David Ivy]

The July 2019 Central Texas Housing Market Report is out from the Austin Board of REALTORS (ABoR). Home sales in the Austin area set a new July record with an 11.7% increase year over year. However, the City of Austin itself saw home sales remain flat as a result of an incredibly tight 1.9 months of inventory. Demand remains sky high, though, leading to a 7% YOY increase in the median sales price of a single-family home in the city. In July, the median SFR in Austin sold for $410,000, compared to $325,000 (up 3% YOY) in the Austin-Round Rock MSA. The suburban market continues to draw buyers with higher inventory, lower median prices, and a quality of life often comparable to Austin.

ABoR president, Kevin P. Scanlan, added his commentary: "Regional single-family home sales posted strong gains this July, indicating the summer selling season is likely to remain active and steady throughout August. It’s a sellers’ market right now. Even though we saw an increase in new listings, inventory remains low. Homes located inside city limits are spending less than one month on the market, on average."

Here are basic stats on single-family home sales for July 2019 for the City of Austin and the greater Austin area:

Here's an recent study of housing affordability in 130 US metro areas, including Austin (pic below). The City of Austin is ramping up efforts again to overhaul its current land use and development code after the previous push, dubbed CodeNext, failed this time last year. The new code, due out Oct. 4th, aims to address Austin's housing inventory and affordability challenges. You can read more here, including a multifamily zoning proposal to prevent existing single-family homes from being demolished to make way for a larger, more expensive single-family homes.