Historic low interest rates plus soaring buyer demand, low inventory and the pandemic have pushed the spring’s busy season forward to the end of the year.
Buyers are re-evaluating their home needs. More buyers are reflecting on the need for a home with office space, or where extended family is under one roof. Timelines are different, they no longer revolve around the start of the school year. These factors have fueled demand so much that fall is looking like the new spring this year. This week, National Association of Realtors has published that 2020’s housing market was outperforming 2019’s housing market. Experts don’t expect rates to rise and will likely fuel an extended “spring like cycle”.
Since inventory has been low and demand being so high, many buyers are headed to new homes located further away from Austin. So, areas like Leander, Liberty Hill, Hutto, Georgetown and Kyle are filling the void left by low inventory in Austin, Cedar Park and Round Rock.
Additionally, companies that are currently having their employees telecommute could decide to extend that arrangement, allowing people to ditch their previous commutes and settle into outlying areas they wouldn’t have considered a year ago.
Real estate data from the Austin Board of Realtors “In Williamson County, August residential sales increased 13.5% to 1,343 sales, and
sales dollar volume increased 23.1% to $467,254,216. The median price rose 5.7% to $307,500. During the same period, new listings decreased 6.3% to 1,154 listings, and active listings dropped 54% to 1,111 listings. Pending sales jumped 33.7% to 1,487 pending sales. Housing inventory declined 1.4 months year over year to 1.1 months of inventory.”
From Romeo Manzeneelo 2020 ABOR president:
“Our market is now ultra-competitive because of our dangerously low inventory and that is cause for concern over the long-term. Homeowners thinking of listing their home need to understand the opportunities in the market and our elected leaders should focus on promoting policies that create increased housing capacity. The jobs pipeline into Austin continues to create new economic opportunities and a double-digit percentage gain in new listings in July, coupled with buyers continuing to take advantage of historically low interest rates, allows us to be cautiously optimistic about the remainder of 2020