More than 180 residential properties were sold across Northwest Austin, as defined by Community Impact Newspaper’s six-ZIP code distribution area, in the month of June. That represents a 10% drop when compared to this point last year, according to data provided by the Austin Board of Realtors.
That rate, however, represents a sharp increase in home sales for the Northwest Austin community. In both April and May, home sales were down 40% or more across Northwest Austin year over year.
“Strong home sales in June are good news for the real estate market across the region,” 2020 ABoR President Romeo Manzanilla said in a July 14 news release. “The increased sales last month helped limit the impact of the pandemic on the first half of the year overall. Increased pending sales signal a strong month of sales in July, but we have to remain cautious as Texas experiences a spike in COVID-19 cases and we are seeing shrinking housing inventory.”
Home inventory, or the amount of time it would take for all remaining homes on the market to sell if no new homes were built, remains notably low in the Northwest Austin market. For the eighth straight month, the market had one month or less of inventory, according to ABoR data.
The Texas A&M University Real Estate Center considers a balanced real estate market to have 6.5 months of inventory.
Even as inventory lags in Northwest Austin, home prices remained relatively stable in the market. The median price for all residential listings in June was $405,000, which represents a 5.2% increase from June 2019. That price is also just $5,000 higher than the median price reported in May 2020.
The median price in Northwest Austin also falls in line with the median price citywide. Across the city of Austin, the median home price in June was reported at $406,00. That represents a 9.7% year-over-year increase for the city.
“While home sales declined throughout the Austin-MSA during the first six months of 2020, we are still on track for a strong year,” said James Gaines, chief economist for the Real Estate Center at Texas A&M University, in the July 14 ABoR news release.
