Here are the July/2018 MLS single-family statistics for Austin, TX:
July produced our first no-red category month of 2018 and our first month since November/2016--nearly 2 years ago--so we had a very solid month for home sales. Our lone dark green category was inventory which is the number of months it would take to sell all homes currently on the market at the current sales pace. July was our 2nd month to have this distinction this year (March was the other one) and the last month we had a dark green before this was also November/2016. After the tumultuous years following the great recession at the end of the last decade, I’m beginning to see a pattern with our inventory: down 4% this year, up 11% in 2017, down 6% in 2016, and up 3% in 2015….the even years our inventory drops which also happen to be election years. I find this odd since election years bring the uncertainty of who will be in office next so you would think our inventory would rise these years, not fall. We’ll have to keep our eye on this phenomenon.
Regarding home prices, I’ve reported previously that even though our median and average home prices continue to rise each year, the rate of increase has been slowly falling the past few years. You can clearly see this with the chart below where the blue lines represent the median price increase each quarter going back to the last quarter of 2008 at the beginning of the great recession. We seem to be heading into a soft landing with home price increases.
If you would like to buy or sell a home in the Austin metro, please contact the Thomas & Kauffman Team so we can help you reach your goals this year.