According to a report from the Austin Board of Realtors, overall sales dropped 9.9% in July from the previous month.
However, closer inspection shows the Central Texas market to still be red hot, according to the report.
“July 2020 established the all-time-high watermark for home sales in the region due to pent-up housing demand after several months of stay-at-home orders and increased consumer purchasing power,” 2021 ABoR President Susan Horton said in the report. “As we have moved away from the post-COVID boom, the market has begun to stabilize. The typical seasonality for the summer returned as people re-engaged in other activities, including travel."
In the Round Rock, Pflugerville and Hutto area, July sales dropped but not as much as the Austin metro as a whole.
Down 3.7% from last July, sales in the area appear to be stabilizing along with the rest of Central Texas, but valuation surges are showing no signs of slowing.
The average price of a home in the Round Rock, Pflugerville and Hutto area rose 45.9% from last July to $488,148.
Of note, the Greater Austin area saw sales dollar volume jump 20.7% to about $2.41 billion over last July, while the Round Rock, Pflugerville and Hutto area nearly doubled that with a 40.4% increase year over year—about $339.8 million.
“Austin is always considered one of the top places to live in the U.S., but we’re losing ground due to shrinking housing inventory and affordability," said Valke O'Grady, regional director of MetroStudy, in the report. "With construction delays and regulatory barriers, builders and developers are having increasing difficulty getting new homes on the ground. Because of that, there’s not enough supply coming to the market to significantly impact available inventory, which further pushes prices up. Looking ahead, there will likely only be new inventory available further out in the suburbs; meaning, other submarkets may gain traction over Austin.”
