This is the first of what will be a weekly Blog entry as to the state of the market directed to Sellers. This information should be helpful if you are a current Seller or you are thinking of selling your home in the future. Buyer's may have interest as well since the Blog will give you an idea of the current state of affairs in the Austin Metro Area.
As expected, buyer traffic was off last week due to the Thanksgiving Holiday. We experienced an average of just over one showing per home off our current inventory of 18 homes. We expect a pick up of traffic and have already seen more phone traffic this week. We will be attaching statistics weekly that have been researched by Alamo Title. These statistics show inventory continuing to grow as pending sales are slipping at the same time. The most interesting statistic is that although sales activity has a tapered off the median price in Austin continues to go up. I was having a hard time figuring that out until I looked noticed that the number of sold homes in the under $150k range are down over 20%. Since this is a very popular price range due to affordability, the fewer sales in the low price range makes it look as if prices are actually going up. So the fact that few inexpensive homes are selling statistically translates into the median price rising.
I hear a lot of talk about Austin becoming a "Buyer's Market." The truth is that the Austin Market has now returned to a "Normal Market." And that means homes are selling the way they always have...Sellers think that they are selling too low and Buyer's think they are paying too much.