At the end of the year, 1729 properties were pending sale which again was the highest number for any December since 2006. This indicator would seem to imply that the market momentum of the past 18 months should continue into the first of this year.
For comparison, just over 1200 homes were pending sale at the end of 2009 and remarkably, the current volume of pending home sales (1729) is higher than that seen in 9 out of the 12 months as recently as 2010.
One of the most telling statistics about the current state of the Austin housing market is the fact that the market featured just 2.7 months of available inventory at the end of December. If you remember, inventory levels are measured as the total number of homes available for sale divided by the average number of sales for the previous 12 months. While inventory levels do fluctuate in different price ranges and areas of town, less than 3 months of inventory indicates a very strong seller’s market at the current point in time. Compare that number to where we’ve sat at the end of December for the past 4 years: 5.7 months (2008), 7.8 (2009), 6 (2010), and 4.6 (2011).
2012 Austin Real Estate Summary: 22,946 single family homes sold in the Austin area in 2012 which was a 19 percent increase over 2011. The median home price also increased by 6 percent to $205,000 which is almost 11 percent higher than where we were in 2009. On average, homes spent 69 days on market prior to sale which was 15 days fewer than 2011. And while one might deduce that the extremely low inventory numbers were a result of fewer people wanting/needing to sell, the number of active listings actually increased 3 percent in 2012. The market surge resulting in 19 percent more closed sales and 19 percent more pending sales sapped the available housing inventory significantly. The fact of the matter is that there is just not enough local inventory (shelter) to support the influx of new residents flocking to the Austin area – some 60,000+ in 2012, a trend that is supposed to continue for at least the next few years.
Austin Condo Market: The condo market which had been more negatively impacted than the regular single family market in recent years saw the most dramatic rise in 2012. 2520 condo units sold in the Austin area which was 28 percent higher than 2011. The median sale price rose 8 percent and time on market dropped 22 percent to 74 days prior to sale.
Austin Rental Market: With the relative surge in home sale activity, you’d think one of the markets most likely to be negatively affected would be the lease market. Not so. There was only a one percent drop off in 2011 in overall lease volume and prices still rose almost six percent.
