While a balanced market—in which housing supply meets an area’s demand—is six months of inventory, since January, inventory in Southwest Austin has fluctuated between 1.1 and 1.5 months. Inventory peaked at 1.5 months in April before dropping each month since.
“Austin’s popularity has left the market with critically low levels of housing supply, which continues to drive home prices up,” 2020 ABoR President Romeo Manzanilla said in a news release about the August housing report. “While home prices are rising, historically low interest rates are giving buyers increased power to meet the increases.”
After the spring saw a decline in home sales year over year due to the coronavirus pandemic, sales have picked up over the summer. June saw slight growth of 1.81% year over year. July sales, however, showed a sizable 32.7% increase compared to July 2019, and August’s 513 homes sold constituted a 12% increase compared to 2019, according to the ABoR. Overall, the Southwest Austin market has sold 2.5% more homes in 2020 compared to 2019 through the month of August, with 3,204 total sales.
The median price of homes sold in Southwest Austin in August also showed year-over-year growth, but the $426,500 price tag was a slight drop compared to July’s value of $430,250. The median price in the city of Austin was $440,000.
