Texas30yrFixedRates

Texas 30yr fixed rates courtesy of Zillow.com

With the increase in mortgage rates, is the Austin housing market finally cooling down?

As rates have increased over 1% in the last months, you might expect that to put the brakes on Austin’s runaway housing market, and we certainly wouldn’t expect to see the extreme sellers market persist for very long, so what do the most recent statistics say?

The first chart shows the number of houses on the MLS market in the City for the last 10 years.

AustinHousingMarketACtiveListings2013

Active Listings on the MLS

As you can see, inventory levels have started to pick up.

The chart below shows months of inventory – how long it would take to sell if all the homes on the market stayed on the market, no new homes entered the market and the current rate of home sales continued.

AustinHousingMarketMonthsOfInventoryJuly2013

Months of Inventory

Despite rising inventory levels, the number of months of inventory is remaining roughly the same as it has all last year, and that still keeps us in a sellers market. I would anticipate a slow return to a balanced market in the coming year, rather than an abrupt change.

The third chart shows the average number of days a house in Austin takes to sell – the time between it entering the market and receiving an acceptable offer which closes.

HousesTimeToSellJuly2013Austin

How fast are houses selling

The time on market takes a little seasonal dip, but has really fallen and stayed low this year.

In a nutshell: Austin houses are still very much in demand, are still selling quickly, and even though inventory is rising, demand is still there to keep the market as a firm sellers market.

An Austin Realtor runs the Sherlock Homes Austin team, and personally helps people with their Mueller Austin TX home sale needs, while his partners focus more broadly on Austin homes for sale. Call 512 215 4785 to find out how you would fare in the current market.


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