ABoR: March real estate numbers still showing gains in Lake Travis-Westlake area

Though the Central Texas residential real estate market is still showing gains for overall sales and median prices, experts with the Austin Board of Realtors maintain the true effects of the COVID-19 crisis upon the real estate market have not yet revealed themselves.

ABoR’s March 2020 market analysis showed a 2.2% increase in residential home sales in the Austin-Round Rock metropolitan statistical area from March 2019—a jump to 3,042.

“For most of March, it was still ‘business as usual,’ and realtors adapted early to continue serving home buyers and sellers safely,” 2020 ABoR President Romeo Manzanilla said in a press release. “Declines in listing activity and pending residential sales in March indicate that we won’t begin to see the true impact of COVID-19 on the housing market until our April report.”

According to the ABoR report, at the Travis County level residential home sales slightly increased 0.4% to 1,545 sales and sales dollar volume increased 11.8% to $783.61 million. The median price for residential homes jumped 15.1% year over year to $397,250.

"During the same period, new listings decreased 12.6% to 2,004 listings; active listings decreased 30.5% to 2,277 listings; and pending sales decreased 22.6% to 1,393 pending sales,” the report states.

In the Lake Travis-Westlake area, residential home sales for March increased 12% to 242 over the last year, and the sales dollar volume shot up 15.4% over the same period, reaching $192.35 million.

The median price for residential homes in the Lake Travis-Westlake area also rose 11.2% to $599,950 over last March.

“Like realtors, sellers should remain cautiously optimistic during this time. Austin-area homebuyers are still looking to buy homes, and fewer homes on the market means stronger demand and increased visibility for your property,” Manzanilla said in the release. “Despite the challenges of COVID-19, we’re still in a seller’s market and sellers should be encouraged to list their homes.”