The increase comes as fewer sellers list their houses on the market in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, according to data provided to Community Impact Newspaper by the Austin Board of Realtors.
In the six ZIP codes of Community Impact Newspaper’s Northwest Austin distribution area, new home listings in April fell to 155, a 17.99% decrease from the number of new listings in March.
Similarly, the number of closed sales in April noticeably dropped when compared to numbers from March. In April, ABoR reported 104 sales in Northwest Austin, down from 141 the month prior.
“We anticipated a sharp decline in April home sales activity, as it directly correlates with the decline in listings activity recorded in March due to government stay-at-home orders,” said Romeo Manzanilla, president of ABoR, in a May 19 news release. “Even with the impact on home sales, homes still spent less time on the market and sold at higher prices than last April. Austin’s housing demand is undeterred, and possibly strengthened by declining inventory.”
After the Northwest Austin market last month reached a median residential unit value of more than $400,000—a new milestone for the market—home prices continued to climb as the market became increasingly competitive.
Homes spent an average of 14 days on the market—10 less days than one month ago. As a result, the median price of a home in Northwest Austin in April was $425,000, which represents a 15.4% increase compared to April 2019. That number is additionally $100,000 higher than the median home price for the entire Austin-Round Rock metropolitan area.
Real estate experts believe that as sectors of the economy begin to open up, the real estate market may begin to normalize.
“As the economy steadily reopens, expect more listings to pop up, which will help ease the housing shortage. By the end of this year, home sales could be at levels comparable to 2019,” said Lawrence Yun, chief economist and senior vice president of research at the National Association of Realtors, in the May 19 ABoR news release. “The local economy will also get an additional boost from more home construction that is needed for improving the market going into the next year.”
