Home Sales Remain Healthy Despite Slower Sales
The Round Rock real estate market saw an interesting 2015 as home sales increased despite a continued lacked of inventory. More homes sold in Round Rock than in any given year since before 2010. The average sales price also increased as more and more buyers fought over the few homes that were available on the market. Despite this positive news, home sales didn’t reach the historic highs seen in the greater Austin area because there just weren’t enough homes available for those who wanted them.
Despite 3.6 percent more homes selling in Round Rock in 2015 than 2014, many buyers seemed discouraged, especially during the summer season. Once again the hot buyer season started earlier than expected with nearly 300 homes selling in April. For the second year in a row, buyers started home shopping in earnest before the school year ever came to a close. This increase in demand before the majority of sellers came on the market in June led to numerous multiple buyer situations, though not nearly at the levels seen in 2014.
“The market during the first half of the year or maybe the first seven months was extremely busy with many homes going into multiple offer situations at a lot of the price points,” said Robert J Fischer, owner, broker and listing specialist with the RJF Team. “However what we saw towards the later part of the year, as multiple offers started to slow down, was that you were not getting as many offers on homes as you were before. So the market did slow down a little.”
Demand for homes under $200,000 kept homes in that price range flying off the market days after listing. While the average time on market overall in Round Rock was 41 days, those priced in the traditional “starter home” range were on the market for just 17 days on average before going under contract. By September, it was difficult to even find more than a few homes listed in this price range available in Round Rock at any given time.
This high buyer demand and lack of competition pushed home prices up another 7.84 percent in 2015 to an average of $259,400. Despite the higher home prices, more homes sold for close to their asking price in 2015 than in previous years. The average home received 99.1 percent of their requested price as sellers continued to hold a lot of the power in the market.
“It still is a seller’s market in the sense of the number of homes on the market for sale,” said Fischer. “It’s also a buyer’s market in the sense that interest rates are so low though they will possibly increase again soon. Buying a home right now is definitely worth it, especially if you’re going to stay in it for the long-term. Even with higher prices, it still is an amazing time right now to buy.”
A new trend we saw in 2015 was the increase in higher priced homes hitting the market. Inventory of homes listed for over $400,000 increased significantly starting in the summer and the increased competition has many big beautiful homes sitting on the market for months before going to closing. By the end of the year, 228 homes at this price point sold in Round Rock in an average of 61 days and for an average price of $472,419.
The highest priced home sold in Round Rock in 2015 was a spacious two story in the Mira Vista section of Behrens Ranch for $830,000. The least expensive was a $90,000 home in the Greenslopes at Lakecreek neighborhood. The median price of all homes sold in Round Rock for the year was $239,900.
New home construction seemed to ramp up in many parts of Round Rock though new home sales decreased from 2014. New home sales in Round Rock dropped 27 percent to only 216 homes closing in 2015. The majority of these homes were in Paloma Lake and the newer sections of Mayfield Ranch. Additional neighborhoods that saw a fair number of new homes close were Siena, Turtle Creek and Vizcaya. Teravista, formerly a huge supplier of new home sales, only saw seven close in 2015 in Round Rock, though many others closed on the Georgetown side of the neighborhood.
As for what will happen in 2016? It’s likely we’ll see more of the same, though possibly with home prices not rising quite as fast. Homes priced over $250,000 may also settle on the market longer before buyers start making their way back in the spring.
“My guess is we will have another good year. It may not be as hot in terms of multiple offers on homes as we did last year, but it still will be hot and some homes will get multiple offers, just not all of them,” Fischer said. “Round Rock and the Austin area continue to be a hot area for people to move to with lots of opportunity on so many different sides. We are going into an election year, which is generally pretty calm, but changes could happen depending on how the market interprets the results. The national economy has been on a 7 to 8 year uptrend, so it could be time for a correction at some point. We just do not know when and then we do not know how that affects our local area as the Austin/Round Rock area is always pretty strong.”
