August Real Estate Stats Offer a Chill End to an Otherwise Turbulent Summer
As of August, Austin’s total real estate sales volume year-to-date (YTD) was $4,078,036,877. This amount outpaced August 2019 by $161,819,938. Rising home prices and the number of YTD home sales drove this increase.
Average home sale price grew 2% to $550K in the month of August. The median price increased 2.8% to $435K. If August’s appreciation rate was sustained for a year, it would yield 27% growth in housing costs. July’s would have provided a disastrous 115% annual increase. By August, the average home sale price went up 20% from January and 16.7% year-over-year. So, last month was a step in the right direction compared to July.
To recap the novela that was July, average prices for single-family homes soared 8.2%, while condo prices dropped 3.8%. In August, the average and median single-family home sale price grew at a rate of 2.7%. Condo owners got some good news as well. Even though the average condo sale price was 0.6% lower, the median jumped 2.2%. This data means that most condo units sold for more in August than July.
Condos feed Austinites’ appetite for lower-cost housing. The average sale price for condos was $375K in August, while single-family broke $600K. The median sale price was $319K for condos and $462K for single-family. On average, condos cost 37.5% less than single-family homes.
Home prices in Austin will continue to shoot up until inventory swells. August inventory remained at a meager 1.18 months’ supply. We need an increase in listings to turn things around, but unfortunately, new listings dropped 20% in August. Still, August had 4% more new listings than last year because COVID delayed the summer selling season.
Full recovery from the shutdown wasn’t realized by the end of August, but we’re getting close. August had 489 fewer YTD closed sales than August 2019. A healthy housing market should have more closed sales year-over-year to meet rising demand.
Will 2020 Sales Catch Up? And, if So, When?
YTD pending sales are our crystal ball for this question. (A pending sale precedes every closed sale.) In July 2020, there were 99 fewer YTD pending sales than July of last year. But in August, there were 158 more YTD pending sales than August 2019. So, YTD sales will likely catch up with 2019 by the end of September.
