STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- Sales up 7 percent; median price rose 9.8 percent to $279,990.
- City of Austin sales soar nearly 10 percent; median price up 2.3 percent to $312,000.
Continuing its six-year bull run, Central Texas’ housing market kicked off 2017 with gains in both the number of home sales and the median sale price, the Austin Board of Realtors said Thursday.
The board said January saw 1,549 pre-owned and newly built houses change hands in the overall Austin metro area, 7 percent more than in January 2016. The median price of homes sold last month was $279,990, a 9.8 increase over the prior January, the board said.
Within the city of Austin, there were 469 home sales, up 9.8 percent year-over-year. The median price was $312,000, up 2.3 percent, the board said.
Housing inventory levels remained flat across the Austin-Round Rock metro in January 2017, the board said. The supply of available homes in Williamson County and other markets is now on pace with inventory levels in Austin, the board noted. The inventory of single-family homes priced under $250,000 is now less than one month in many local markets across Central Texas, the board said.
“Consecutive years of strong housing demand and sales growth throughout Central Texas have significantly changed housing market conditions in Austin and the surrounding region,” Brandy Guthrie, president of the Austin Board of Realtors, said in a written statement. “The radius of local market areas with critically low housing inventory levels has expanded out from Austin into surrounding counties, shifting the price range of available homes in local communities upward…Single-family homes priced for entry-level homebuyers are increasingly harder to find throughout the region.”
Last month, the board reported that sales and prices in Central Texas reached record annual highs for 2016, for the sixth year in a row. Housing market experts are forecasting a strong market for 2017, though perhaps not as robust as last year.
