April 2016 ABOR Market Report
AUSTIN, Texas – May 19, 2016 – Single-family home sales increased in the Austin-Round Rock Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) in April 2016, highlighting growing urban sprawl as rising housing costs exacerbate affordability challenges, according to the April 2016 Central Texas Housing Market Report released today by the Austin Board of REALTORS®.
“Much of Central Texas’ home sales activity is now taking place outside of Austin’s city limits, with housing demand driving growth in surrounding counties,” said Aaron Farmer, 2016 President of the Austin Board of REALTORS®. “The City of Austin’s housing market is drastically different than surrounding areas. In Austin, home sales growth is suppressed, inventory is more constrained and home prices are much higher.”
In April 2016, single-family home sales increased 12.5 percent year-over-year to 3,863 home sales in the Central Texas region. Nearly 80 percent of those homes were sold outside of Austin’s city limits. In the five-county MSA, single-family home sales rose 5.1 percent year-over-year to 2,600 home sales during the same time frame.
Hays County experienced the largest annual gain in home sales in April 2016, with single-family home sales jumping 17.8 percent year-over-year to 338 home sales. Williamson County was the only county in the Austin-Round Rock MSA to experience a decline in home sales in April 2016, with single-family home sales dropping 5.1 percent year-over-year to 816 home sales.
In the City of Austin, single-family home sales held steady at 829 home sales, a 1.7 percent increase from April 2015 and nearly equivalent to the home sales volume in all of Williamson County in April 2016.
Austin Board of REALTORS® releases real estate statistics for April 2016
