Austin's Spring Market Starts with a Strong March

With preliminary tallies showing Austin's March 2010 sales volume up more than 22% over the same time period last year, it looks like local buyers' confidence is on the rise. Indeed, the number of units sold reported by the first of April is up nearly 20%, even though we generally see another 10% late postings for monthly tallies reported in the first two weeks of the following month. If this trend holds, we will likely see official March sales number show 30% more sales than March of 2009. This is more welcomed news for Austin home sellers and another feather in Austin’s cap as a national leader in recession recovery.

In addition to higher sales volume, our local average sales prices continue to recover, as well. Last year, the average market-wide sales price fell to $227,331 from $234,511 in 2008, but this year shows that average sales price has rebounded to $233,724, indicating that buyers and sellers are returning to previous appreciation trend lines.

Like the month of March, the whole first quarter of 2010 experienced improvements over last year, reporting an increase of more than 10% more units sold, a nominal increase in average sales price (up 1.6% this year), and a slight decrease in number of cumulative days on market. For the past couple years, we have witnessed flat to declining market conditions here in Austin, and although they haven't been as bad as many cities in the country, the economic downturn has made its presence known to central Texans. However, March suggests that our market is improving yet again, taking us from "less bad" back towards "more good."

For both updated March market statistics and Q1 2010 statistics, please click below. Also check out absorption trends by MLS area as inventories remain balanced in most areas.