March 12, 2024 | Driving It Home with ABoR's Housing Economist

In this podcast episode, Emily Chenevert and Dr. Clare Losey discuss the real estate market in Austin during the spring break period, a busy time for the city due to events like South By. Dr. Losey remarks on the market's performance in February, noting that sales and median sales prices remained relatively flat, with only a modest increase of about 1%. Despite fluctuating mortgage rates throughout the month, there were no significant surprises in the housing market's activity. Dr. Losey highlights a positive trend of sellers pricing their homes more accurately, with the price ratio close to the original list now around 95%. She also points out a slight decrease in months of inventory, suggesting a need for more housing supply, particularly in more affordable brackets. Emily chimes in, interpreting the close to list price metric as an indicator of market stabilization, which is helpful for real estate agents in instilling confidence in their clients. Lastly, the significant increase in new listings, particularly in more affordable price ranges under $300,000, is discussed. This is seen as great news for first-time buyers and those earning under $100,000, meeting a critical need in the Austin market. Dr. Losey emphasizes that Williamson County, in particular, is benefiting from this trend due to job growth and business relocations. Pending listings are down, which they attribute to rising mortgage rates, but they don't put much stock in this metric due to its volatility. The conversation concludes with both expressing optimism for the real estate market and anticipating the data release later in the week. Links Mentioned: February 2024 Central Texas Market Report Coming March 13 - https://www.abor.com/marketstatistics  Market Data Lab with Dr. Clare Losey - March 19 - https://www.abor.com/class/market-data-lab-2 Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/driving-it-home-with-abors-housing-economist/id1714289732 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLzH_caxJ3VPq5iExWilqZOahnREgSFgqC  Download the Audio Transcript + Episode Summary: https://www.abor.com/content/uploads/2024/03/DIH-3-12-24.pdf Connect with us on socials: https://www.abor.com/socials Connect with Dr. Clare Losey on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/clare-losey  Have feedback? Email us at [email protected].