Austin housing market balancing itself out after home sales soared a few years ago
The Austin housing market has seen a drastic change in the last five years. It is now balancing itself out after homes were selling at an unsustainable rate just a few years ago.
CBS Austin's Farrah Walton spoke with homeowner Mark Mata, who has lived in his home with his family for eight years.
"We had multiple grandkids birthday parties here, family gatherings," Mata said as he recalled happy memories from his time living at his home which has been on the market since the end of August.
He decided to sell because he is ready for more space. He says selling right now has come with its challenges, like trying to please potential buyers.
"They (the buyers) can ask for more things than they could have a year ago."
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New found in the U.S., Austin had the biggest decrease in housing turnover rate from 2019 at 30 sales per 1,000 homes, a 49% drop.
Realtor with , Sharon Morgan, says that is partly because the housing market was thriving then.
"And then we had the pandemic, and with COVID we saw an incredible influx of buyers coming into Austin," Morgan said.
These buyers were able to spend more money with low interest rates to buy homes, but there was very low supply, which Morgan said drove high price.
"Where we are today, is that we have seen a greater amount of inventory available on the market," Morgan explained. "We are seeing interest rates higher than they were a couple of years ago."
This is leaving people to decide if they buy now around a 6% interest rate, or wait and see if that rate lowers. Back at Mata's house, he said he is selling for less than he would have liked.
"If we would have sold a year ago, it would have been like 100 to 120 more than what's on the market now," he said.
Homes are taking 70 days on average to sell, meaning buyers can take their time finding the right one. A few years ago that number was about three, according to Morgan.
Her advice if you are looking to sell right now: manage your expectations, prepare your home for sale, and competitively price your home based off the other competitors on the market.
