Market pace during Covid? Fast!!!

If you’ve been house-shopping over the past few years in the Austin area you know that it can be frustrating, with homes going under contract before you can get an offer submitted. It’s not your imagination, and it has gotten even more tense over the past six months.

For comparison, here’s a look at the number of single family homes (resale only) sold over the past ten years, and the median days they were on the market (date of active listing to date buyer and seller executed a contract):

2012 was our transtion year from the last market bottom into the current very long market boom. The traditional Spring-Summer selling season is visible in each year, and the median days to sell was 10 days or less for at least a couple of months each year. 2020 has been different, though.

In 2020, median days to sell reached 8 days in March and 6 days in April, just as the coronavirus lockdowns began. It increased to 11 days in May and June, then fell again to 9, 8, and 7 days in July, August, and September, and notice the peak in unit sales in July — the highest monthly total ever:

When half of all sales take just 6 to 8 days, that means many homes were under contract in the first or second day on the market.

If you’re a buyer on the verge of giving up you’re not alone, but keep in mind that an average of 2,700 buyers have been successful each month since June, and 2,300 each month since our pandemic lockdowns began in March. If you’re serious about buying a home, make sure your financing is ready, know what you need, and be prepared to compete for the house you really want. It happens for hundreds of folks like you every week.