The Austin Board of Realtors cites rising home prices as the reason for a second-consecutive month of declining home sales.
The ABoR report, released Sept. 18, shows August home sales dropped 4 percent compared with the same time last year. At the same time, the median single-family home price has increased 11 percent since August 2013.
ABoR President Bill Evans said in a statement that many first-time homebuyers and those seeking to upgrade from their first purchased homes are being priced out of the market.
"We need a regulatory environment that supports the development of affordable housing stock for the future stability of our Austin housing market," Evans said in a statement. "The Austin land development code basically needs to be overhauled."
A progress report on the city's land development code rewrite efforts was presented to the Planning Commission earlier this month and to the Subcommittee on Codes and Ordinances on Sept. 16.
During that meeting, George Zapalac, development services manager for the city's Planning and Development Review Department, said the consultants hired to lead the code revamp have identified an approach for rewriting the code. The process is still on track to be complete in time for a fall 2016 presentation to City Council, he said.
"Implementation of the code would occur after that time," Zapalac said.
Austin's housing inventory is on the rise, increasing 0.2 months from August 2013 to 3 months total. That is a helpful increase, Evans said, but it still falls well short of the 6.5 months of inventory recommended by the Texas A&M University Real Estate Center.
That puts more focus on finalizing the code rewrite process, Evans said.
"The new land development code will be a crucial catalyst to sustainable market growth in 2015 and years to come, but it must be heavily revised in order to create housing options throughout the city that are affordable for all of Austin's homebuyers," Evans said.
August 2014 Austin home sales statistics
2,835—Single-family homes sold, 4 percent less than August 2013
$247,500 – Median price for a single-family home, 11 percent more than August 2013
$311,414—Average price for a single-family home, 9 percent more than August 2013
42—Average number of days single-family homes spent on the market, one day fewer than August 2013
3,310—New single-family home listings on the market, 4 percent more than August 2013
6,707—Active single-family home listings on the market, 10 percent more than August 2013
2,430—Pending sales for single-family homes, 1 percent more than August 2013
3—Months of inventory of single-family homes, 0.2 months more than August 2013
$882,858,690—Total dollar volume of single-family properties sold, 4 percent more than August 2013
Townhouses and condominiums—The volume of townhouses and condominiums purchased in the Austin area in August was 308, which is 13 percent less than August 2013. In the same time period, the median price for condos was $212,000, which is 9 percent more than the same month of the prior year. These properties spent an average of 34 days on the market, six days fewer than August 2013.
Leasing—In August 2014, a total of 2,109 properties were leased in Austin, which is 3 percent more than August 2013. The median price for Austin-area leases was $1,500, which is 7 percent more than the same month last year.
