Median home-sales prices decline in all five Central Texas counties

AUSTIN – The Austin American-Statesman reports that the Central Texas housing market remains on its cooling streak, the latest figures show. The median sales price of a home in all five Austin-area counties declined last month compared with the same month last year, according to the Austin Board of Realtors’ monthly report for July released Wednesday. Experts have said the lower closing prices are due mainly to higher mortgage interest rates that have chipped away at many buyers’ purchasing power. And the supply of housing in the five-county Austin region is climbing (active listings were up 20.3% this July over July 2023), giving prospective buyers more choice and leverage in negotiations, industry experts and real estate agents say. In the five-county Austin-Round Rock region, half of the homes sold for more than $450,000 in July and half sold for less, for a 2.8% decline in the median closing price.

Though mortgage rates declined last week to their lowest level since May 2023, sharply higher rates overall for the past 2½ years have meant some buyers aren’t able to afford the home they once could afford, while others no longer can afford to buy at all. Along with higher rates, demand for housing also has eased due to a slowing influx of new residents moving into the Austin area in recent months, experts have said. That has led to a correction in the local market, which experts say is returning to more normal levels following a period of unsustainable growth after the coronavirus pandemic hit in 2020. “With rates around 6.5%, only about half of homeowners in our market can afford a median-priced home and only about a quarter of renters can afford a starter home,” Clare Knapp, housing economist for the Austin Board of Realtors, said in a news release. “Consistently high mortgage rates continue to impact buyer’s purchasing power, but July’s increase in sales in four of the five counties (in the Austin region) shows the strength of Central Texas housing demand,” Knapp said.