Austin Real Estate Market Breakdown by MLS Area – Midyear 2012

Austin MLS Map

Below is the breakout of the Austin real estate market year to date, through June 2012 compared to the same period 2011. The format is as follows, which shows the entire market.

MLS Area Year # Sold Avg Sold Med Sold Avg SQFT Avg PSF Avg Days Med Days
All Areas 2012 10,855 $268,257 $207,000 2,244 $119.54 67 35

2011 9,232 $261,724 $195,323 2,242 $116.74 82 52

Change 17.58% 2.50% 5.98% 0.09% 2.40% -18.29% -32.69%

 

The color coding at the bottom of each MLS Area summary indicates whether that measure improved or slid back. In the “All Areas” example above, all of the measures improved. That is, # Sold, Avg and Median sales prices, and Avg price per sqft all increased on a market-wide basis, while days on market decreased. Average sqft size is not color coded because I don’t see how a slight change in average size up or down is either good or bad.

A quick summary of some stats results:

Fastest selling: The fastest selling area in the Austin MLS market area is Southwest Austin (MLS Area SWW) which has an average days on market of 29, and a median of 10. Yes, half the homes in SW Austin have sold in 10 days or less so far in 2012. There are a lot of other MLS areas with median days below 20, which you’ll see in the full chart below, but no area is as hot as SW Austin in terms of demand. MLS area SWW includes subdivisions such as Circle C, Legend Oaks, and Villages at Western Oaks.

Highest Price Increases: There are 44 MLS areas shown in the chart below. 12 of those have avg price increases of over 10%. 12 areas (though not the same 12) have median sold price increases over 10% from last year. Most of the highest increases are in closer in areas of Austin proper, though Cedar Park/Leander North (CLN) and Georgetown West (GTW) are in that group, as well as dark horses Manor and Elgin, which have been perennial low performers in the market.

The full chart is below. As usual, questions and comments are welcome.

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Austin Real Estate Market Update – Stats thru June 2012

 

The Austin real estate market has found its traction this selling season. Good for sellers, frustrating for buyers. And there hasn’t been any let up. Sylvia and I personally had a record June. July has been extremely busy as well. We’re encountering multiple offers, backups offers, and several listings we’ve sold from “Coming Soon” signs that never made it into the Austin MLS.

That said, we still see that this good market isn’t yet showing up for every home or in every neighboirhood. So, for now, the rising tide is floating most boats, but not all. I’ll have a neighborhood breakdown in a following post.

I have several charts and graphs below that give visual representation to the market. The first is my recurring 1999 look-back graph. I like this one because it puts into context our market for the past 13 years.

Austin Real Estate Sales Graph 1999 thru June 2012

Next is June 2012 compared to June 2011. The left column shows the previous month, for reference. The right colum is color coded, red for downward movement, green for upward movement in the particular market measure. As you can see, everything is green.

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Pre-Marketing a Listing Can Result in Quick Offers

When should a listing go “on the market”, and what constitutes being on the market? Often we’ll take a new listing with the understanding that it won’t be placed into the Austin MLS until the pre-sale checklist is complete. That checklist includes preparation that the seller needs to complete so that the home can be properly presented to the market from the first day in the MLS.

For some sellers, this involves just minor straightening up. For others, it’s major decluttering, repairs, painting, landscaping, etc. Once the home is prepared, we send the stager, photographer and virtual tour people. Once we have the virtual tour and the photos, the home is ready to be listed in the MLS.

Meanwhile, we often place a sign in the yard with a rider that says “Coming Soon”. We’ll also contact agents that work the area in which the listing is located and let them know we have a new one on the way. Sometimes, this results in a sale before we ever make it into the MLS. Such is the outcome with one of our current listings, which received multiple offers before it was officially “on the market”.

How does this happen?

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Austin Real Estate Market Update – December 2009

The Austin real estate market ended 2009 on an up note, with both average and median sold prices up more than 5% over Dec 2008. Oh, but wait … December 2008 was a dismal month because we all still thought the financial world was falling off a cliff. But the stats are what they are so let’s have a look.

Number of homes sold is down 4.39% from a year ago, which is a small decrease compared to the numbers we were seeing earlier this year. Average list price is up 3.71% to $276,387, Median List Price is up 5.22% to $199,900, Average sold price is up 5.15%, Median  sold is up 5.39%, the Sold/List % is up 1.39% to 95.54%. And Average Price per Square Foot of sold homes is also up, by 1.11%, to $115.36.

Average Days on Market was up about 4% to 82 days, but Median Days on Market was down 14% to 48 days. The number of Not Sold was down also, though at 56% still a big number, but that’s normal for December when lots of sellers give up for the holidays.

Here is the chart showing Nov/Dec 2009 and Dec 2008 sales stats.

Austin Real Estate Sales Market Update December 2009 Sales
Homes only (condos, duplexes, etc. not included) compiled from Austin MLS data

Nov 2009 Dec 2009 Dec 2008 Yr % Change
# Sold 1515 1219 1275 -4.39%
Avg List $252,963 $276,387 $266,498 3.71%
Med List $185,000 $199,900 $189,990 5.22%
Avg Sold $242,349 $264,061 $251,128 5.15%
Med Sold $180,000 $194,858 $184,900 5.39%
Sold/List % 95.80% 95.54% 94.23% 1.39%
Avg SQFT 2113 2289 2201 4.00%
Med SQFT 1896 2050 1981 3.48%
Avg $ SQFT $114.69 $115.36 $114.10 1.11%
Avg DOM 73 82 79 3.80%
Median DOM 44 48 56 -14.29%
# Expired 474 854 866 -1.39%
# Withdrawn 832 699 851 -17.86%
Not Sold 1306 1553 1717 -9.55%
Not Sold % 46.30% 56.02% 57.39% -2.37%



So, that’s a bunch of numbers, but what does it all mean? Is the Austin real estate market rebounding from the slight decline of 2009? I think it is. 2010 will be better than 2009 for sellers. Buyers will still find plenty of good opportunities though.

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