Following a record 2019 for the Central Texas housing market, 2020 has kicked off in much the same way, with home sales and median sales prices again reaching record highs in January.
Last month's 1,738 sales of single-family homes were the highest number for any January on record, the Austin Board of Realtors said Wednesday, as was the median sales price of $310,000. The median price means half the homes sold for more than that amount and half for less.
The sales volume was up 8.6% from January 2019, while the median price was up 5.1% year-over-year.
The figures cover Travis, Williamson, Hays, Bastrop and Caldwell counties. For 2019, the Austin region saw both the number of single-family home sales and the median home-sales price hit all-time highs, for the ninth year running.
Within the city limits of Austin, the median home price also set a January record, rising to $405,500, nearly 16% higher than January 2019. Austin's single-family home sales, however, were down 1.7% from the previous January, with 472 sales recorded, the board said.
The board's latest report marks a transition going forward, in which the board's monthly data will reflect all residential properties — single-family homes, condominiums and townhomes — rather than single-family homes only.
"Austin's competitive housing market is changing the landscape of traditional homeownership," Romeo Manzanilla, the board's president, said in a written statement. "We're seeing more homebuyers purchase condos and townhomes in an effort to live closer to the urban core or stay within their budget. Focusing only on single-family housing leaves out half of the story, especially in the city of Austin where multi-family housing options are not only desired, but greatly needed."
Using the combined totals, residential sales in the Austin region were up 8.5% to 1,947 sales. The median price increased 4.8% to $308,000, a record for the month of January, the board said.
In the city of Austin, the median price for the combined sales rose 13.5% year-over-year to $384,750. Austin had 638 residential sales, up 0.6% over January 2019.
Across the region, the supply of available housing fell to just 1.6 months. A 6 to 6.5 months supply of available housing is a sign of a market in which housing supply and demand are in balance, favoring neither buyers nor sellers, according to industry experts. The decline in supply was driven to critically low levels due to drops in both new and active listings, according to the board. At the same time, increases in pending sales activity could signal further declines in inventory in the year ahead as strong housing demand continues.
"While this January showed significant gains compared to January 2019, the beginning of the year is a traditionally slower time for new and active listings," Manzanilla said. "We expect to see a significant increase in activity in the spring, when market activity should climb naturally."
Central Texas' job and population growth, coupled with continued low mortgage interest rates has made for strong housing demand in Central Texas, experts say. But they say the low supply in the Austin area has been driving prices ever higher.
Others in the housing industry, including local developer Ed Wendler Jr., say the picture is more nuanced and complex.
Wendler said that adding more housing doesn't necessarily translate into lower prices, as some of the demand in the Austin area is coming from an influx of high-wage earners, including those with high-paying tech jobs.
"The nature of the housing demand matters also," said Wendler, who works for a real estate investment trust that has built hundreds of luxury apartments in Austin.
Crystal Weigle, an agent with ATXpert Real Estate under Keller Williams Realty Realty, said the market continues to be fast-paced overall, although houses can take longer to sell in areas that are seeing a lot of new-home construction.
"The further out a community is, the slower it's selling," she said.
But in most parts of the city of Austin, "the vast majority of homes that are well-priced are selling in 10 days or less," Weigle said.
David Shapiro, president of Shapiro Real Estate Group in Austin, said he thinks the Austin housing market is "in for an even hotter spring than last year."
The supply of houses within Austin's city limits is down 30% while demand while demand has stayed constant, Shapiro said.
"Those that are expecting there to be a correction based on pure sentiment that'this can't continue shouldn't be shocked to see the fundamentals of economics — supply and demand — win out here," Shapiro said.
While affordability and other challenges remain, experts predict 2020 will shape up to be another robust year for the region's housing market.
"Austin's engine of job and population growth is not projected to slow down anytime soon," Lawrence Yun, chief economist and senior vice president of research at the National Association of Realtors, said in a written statement. "Looking at other metro areas across the U.S. that have faced similar circumstances, this level of rapid, positive growth will not be sustainable without a continued influx of a variety of housing types and careful transportation planning."
