2021 has come to a close and there is now fairly complete Austin real estate market data for the year before, the year of, and the year after the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic. It has been an eventful three years. There has been a steady shift toward higher price points that accelerated dramatically in 2021 (see graph below).
For a sense of the volume of transactions in these various price ranges, see below:
As you can see, significant growth occurred in the 750K to 999K price range (up 87% from 2020 to 2021) as well as the price points between 1M and 2M. Two thirds of all transactions were in the sub-750K price range, though, with homes priced between 500-750K representing a little over 35% of all sales.
And interestingly, if you look at the changes from 2019 to 2021, then the biggest shifts are with the highest price points, where transactions for homes priced over $2M are up over 175%!
Perhaps the most significant driver in the market has been low inventory in the face of significantly more demand. The lack of supply has pushed prices up and days on market down.
In 2021 new listings were slightly higher than 2020 but got off to a slow start due to the winter storm in February. The 2nd half of 2021 generally followed the seasonal trends and saw a progressive decline in new listings through the fall, with December recording the lowest number of new listings in a month since at least 2018.
Finally, below is a graph showing weekly transactions for 2019 – 2021. You can see the impact of the winter storm in week 8 of 2021, as well as the pandemic in late March 2020 (around week 13) before beginning a steady march higher starting in early May (~week 20).
So as you think about your plans, keep in mind the continued inflow of luxury buyers into the Austin market and the limited inventory available. These factors are likely to continue and be favorable for sellers. If you’d like to learn more or are curious what the market value of your home may be, please let me know and I would be happy to provide an assessment of your home and its potential market value.