How did June home sales compare?

In Strong home sales in June I offered some brief comments on an article in the Austin American-Statesman. Here I will add more details.

First, this chart covers the past 13 months’ home sales and listing inventory:

As noted in the Statesman article, sales in June 2020 were higher than the same month last year. They were also higher than every month since then. The number of homes for sale was depleted at the same time, with listing inventory dropping even below the seasonal lowpoint in January and February.

Those sales happened quickly, with the sold homes on the market for a median of just 16 days:

As you would expect, that market environment led to continuing increases in home prices:

According to MLS data, the median price in the 5-county metropolitan area exceeded $340,000 for the first time, and the average passed $400,000!

On the subject of pricing, this is the distritibution of homes sold in June, first in units and then as a percentage of total unit sales:

About 47% of all sales in June 2020 sold between $200,000 and $350,000, with 60% being between $200,000 and $400,000.

Now, let’s consider how that price distribution has changed of the 13-month period:

Look at the right-most bar in each month on the Unit Sales chart and you’ll see that June sales reversed generally declining trends in the price ranges between $250,000 and $400,000. The ranges between $350,000 and $450,000 had already been increasing in previous months, and they leapt upward in June as well, but what’s really moving the average price for the entire metro market is sales growth between $500,000 and $700,000, supported by real strength above $1,000,000.

All of the growth in terms of percentage sales happened above $350,000, while the percentage of total sales between $200,000 and $350,000 have been declining in recent years. That has become a very difficult segment of the market, with almost all of that inventory and new construction in outlying suburbs and exurbs. That’s unlikely to change.

My guess is that July will be a lot like June, with strong sales and with new listings struggling to keep up. I’ll have an update for you when final numbers are in for this month.