Our Friends are Guessing. One is Winning. Wine is Flowing
How many homes will sell in May? If your guess is closest to the actual sales, our friends at Uncorked will give you a free bottle of wine to enjoy on their expansive outdoor patio. Submit your guess in the comments section below to win.
Single Family Monthly Graphs
2005, 2008, 2009….all have one thing in common: They posted lower sales in April than 2010. Preliminary results showed the number of single family homes to be around 1,875…but once Realtors finally input all their sales into the Austin MLS, we ended up with over 2,000 sales in April. This is a 31% increase over last year’s number of 1,579 sales. While the average prices remain steady, sales are skyrocketing. And inventory of homes available for sale are doing the same.
Keep reading for the written Wise Assessment and/or listen to our interpretations on our latest VLOG:
Overall Market Summary Report
|
Property Type |
Sales |
% Change Year Ago |
Dollar Volume |
% Change Year Ago |
Average Price |
% Change Year Ago |
| Single Family |
2,043 |
31% |
$485,772,282 |
33% |
$237,774 |
2% |
| Townhouse/Condominium |
213 |
63% |
$37,395,771 |
64% |
$175,567 |
1% |
| Farm/Ranches |
37 |
118% |
$11,300,059 |
261% |
$305,407 |
66% |
| Multifamily |
45 |
10% |
$8,671,140 |
4% |
$192,692 |
-6% |
| Lots |
103 |
26% |
$12,388,737 |
47% |
$120,279 |
17% |
| Commercial |
25 |
79% |
$10,911,525 |
115% |
$436,461 |
20% |
| Lease |
1,173 |
14% |
$1,543,668 |
14% |
$1,316 |
0% |
| Commercial Lease |
14 |
27% |
$22,386 |
85% |
$1,599 |
45% |
The Wise Assessment
This is all great data, graphs and information, but what does it really mean? Upon deeper investigation, over 1,400 of the 2,043 sales (69% of sales) were for homes under $250,000. While it would be easy to attribute all these sales to the government’s tax credit….even further investigation is required. For example, in April of 2009, exactly 69.9% of sales were for homes under $250,000. So, if we cannot attribute these sales to the tax credit, what happened, and what does this MEAN to you?
SELLERS: Sales are surging, but so are the number of homes coming on the market on a daily basis. Sure, it is great to see that more homes are selling, faster, and for dollar amounts closer to the asking price. But, if you do not have a superior product to compete with in the market, your outcome will not be any better than it was last year. If you do not have a professional sales and marketing firm to promote your property, you likely will experience the same. And ultimately, if your home is overpriced, you may not have anyone show the home; if they do, prepare yourself for significant low-ball offers.
Interested in avoiding these pitfalls?
- Find a great contractor – If there are improvements or repairs that need to be made to your home to compete…complete them before you put your home up for sale
- Hire a professional stager – Ever walk into a model house and feel right at home? The builder hired a professional stager, and you should too!
- Price competitively - ever wonder why homes sell in a few days, often for more than asking price? The home was priced correctly the very first day it went on the market.
- Promote aggressively - Intercept buyers where they begin looking for homes, and give them what they want ~ great photos, and lots of them!
BUYERS: There are more homes available for your discerning tastes now than there have been since 2008. However, there is more competition for these homes now. So what? What do you do now?
- Get pre-qualified with a COMPETENT Mortgage Bank – Make sure that your mortgage professional is tied directly to a bank. And please, save yourself unexpected costs, delays in closing, and major breakdowns ~ hire a local mortgage banker!
- Hire a knowledgeable buyer’s agent - Make sure that your agent is knowledgeable in the area of town that you are interested in. If they specialize in Manor, they may not know Cedar Park.
- Get educated - Ask your agent lots of questions. Not sure what to ask? Click here to get some great questions.
Average Sales Price
Yup, this is boring stuff. Average sales prices are remaining steady while Inventory and Sales are having a party. Let’s move away from this steady dud to the exciting stuff!
Sales Closed by Month (Demand)
Jack Miller, our Chief Technology Officer at The GoodLife Team predicted a total number of 2,100 sales for April (he made that projection in March). I really thought he was going to be off by a couple of hundred sales. I was wrong and he almost nailed it! A total of 2,043 single family homes sold in Austin last month. As noted above, this can easily be explained (erroneously) by giving all the credit to the governmentally-induced incentives. However, that is not the case. So, what is causing this increase in sales?
Perhaps the continued offer of historically-low interest rates, the continued affordability of homes in Austin, and the fact that unemployment is falling (locally) is contributing to the sales. Let’s face it, Austin: we have a great city, a strong economy, strong workforce, low unemployment (6.8%), and a great climate to enjoy. Don’t believe my claims about unemployment? No worries:
Active Listings (Supply)
Wow. I personally had 8 listing appointments this week alone (sellers meeting with me wanting us to market and sell their homes). And believe it or not, this is becoming a more common occurrence. While this is traditionally our busiest listing season, we are experiencing a spike in seller activitiy. Why is this?
In my meetings with our clients, they mostly share the same with me: they are selling a less expensive home and moving up to a more expensive or larger home. They notice that rates remain very low, prices are steady, and they want to take advantage of the perfect opportunity to move up. By getting a lower interest rate, they quite often can get a much better home with a slightly higher payment. Kind of reminds me of Krisstina’s Here Come Higher Interest Rates article.
Offers of Help
What Is My Home Worth? Want to get a good idea of what your home is worth … and find out right now online? Check out our Market Snapshot for an analysis of the value of your home.
What Is That Home Worth? “Stop the car, honey … look at that house. I wonder what it’s worth?!?” Does this ever happen to you? Ever wonder what that house is worth? Find out now What That Home Is Worth.
What do I need to know before I sell? Typically when a home does not sell, there is one reason…and it isn’t price. We invite you to look at several key factors to consider before selling your home. Visit One Reason for more information.
BTW, We do have very specific data for every price range and area of town. Want specific data pertaining to your neighborhood or your own home? We have it! Please let us know if you would like a neighborhood-specific analysis by emailing us at experience@goodlifeteam.com or calling us at 512.892.9473.
The data provided to create these graphs are available to you by FREE subscription to our monthly update service. Please email us experience@goodlifeteam.com to receive your monthly update. Or, catch the wave and follow @GoodLifeTeam on Twitter.
experience@goodlifeteam.com| 512.892.9473 | www.goodlifeteam.com
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Jack is a rock star!
This is a great post. Thanks so much for sharing, like always.