June sales were announced today by the Austin Board of Realtors and the news is interesting: volumes were down 6% from June of 2006 while prices were up by 7%. This was the first June drop in volume in the Austin market in 5 years.
What is going on? Does this mark an end to Austin’s defiance of national trends? How will this effect downtown condo sales?
According to the Austin Board of Realtors, the biggest volume change occurred with sales of single family homes priced below $130,000. This explains both the volume drop and the decrease in the median price. The culprit is also clear: the current sub-prime lending crisis means that many first-time buyers with borderline credit can no longer qualify for mortgages. This is resulting in a decrease in sales of low priced sales — i.e. houses priced under $130k in Austin.
When low priced sales are taken out of the equation, it does seem that sales remain strong. One important thing to note is that MLS statistics do not include the many new condo units that have been sold directly by the developers without ever listing the units on the MLS. Since these numbers are not included in the Austin Board of Realtors’ statistics, it is hard to know exactly what is happening in the market at large. The only thing we know is that the volumes and median prices would both be higher if all downtown condo sales were included.
In summary, today’s negative statistics do not really effect the downtown condo market which does not include units below $130K where the most dramatic market changes seem to be taking place. But that said, any Austin real estate deceleration is reason for concern, especially after 5 consecutive years of sales increases.
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