SHORT SUPPLY Six months of housing inventory is considered a balanced market. Crigler said that is a mark Central Texas has been below for the last decade. Months of inventory is the amount of time it would take to sell the amount of homes currently on the market if no additional homes were added to the supply. That number is calculated by dividing the number of active listings by the average number of sales per month during the last 12 months.
Travis County
Williamson County
6
Travis County saw a 77.78% decrease in inventory since January 2018. Williamson County saw an 84.21% decrease in inventory since January 2018.
5
4
3
2
1
0
2018 Jan.
2019 Jan.
2020 Jan.
Jan.
2022 Jan.
SOURCES: AUSTIN BOARD OF REALTORS, TEXAS A&M TEXAS REAL ESTATE CENTER COMMUNITY IMPACT NEWSPAPER 2021
“WE ARE AT APOINT NOWWHEREWE ARE NOT MEASURING HOUSING SUPPLY IN TERMS OF MONTHS; WE’RE NOTMEASURING IT IN TERMS OF WEEKS; WE’REMEASURING IT IN TERMS OF DAYS.” MARYA CRIGLER, CHIEF APPRAISER, TRAVIS CENTRAL APPRAISAL DISTRICT
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Months of housing inventory is determined by dividing the number of active listings in an area by by the average number of sales per month during the prior 12 months. According to the Texas A&M Real Estate Research Center, six months of inventory is con- sidered a balanced housing market, in which supply and demand are stable. “We are at a point now where we are not measuring [housing supply] in terms of months; we’re not measuring it in terms of weeks; we’re measuring it in terms of days,” Crigler said. “So there’s a real supply shortage but still high demand.” As prices in Austin reach record highs, Kiersty Lombar, a Realtor with Keller Williams Realty in Williamson County, said more people are being driven out of the city’s center into the outskirts and surrounding suburbs. “The location is terri c being that Austin is right next to Williamson County and it has been such an epi- center of growth over the last decade,” Lombar said. Similarly, Todd LaRue, a managing director for RCLCO Real Estate Consult- ing, said developers are pursuing more housing projects inWilliamson County, despite rising costs on their end. “Williamson County is a
pro-business, pro-growth county,” LaRue said. “There is quite a bit of high-quality community development in the pipeline.” To help homeowners understand why property valuations are increasing dramatically year over year, WCAD is providing comparables—other homes in the area that have recently sold— alongside the appraisal notice. Lank- ford said WCAD is the rst appraisal district in Texas to do this. Crigler said TCAD does not o er this because the data it uses is con dential. With each home that sells above ask- ing price, Gri n said another comp is createdthatdriveshomevaluesup.Bar- ring any major economic downturns, Gri n said he expects themedian price point for homes to increase for at least the next three to ve years. “This is not just a crazy snapshot of the market, but it will be better soon,” Gri n said. “No, this is going to change the real estate dynamic in Austin and the surrounding areas for a decade or more. It will change it for- ever, and this is only the beginning.”
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NORTHWEST AUSTIN EDITION • MARCH 2022
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