Austin New Home Sales Rise And Sold Faster: Report

AUSTIN, TX — New home sales in Austin rose last month — and they sold faster — according to a new homes sales report from HomesUSA.com released on Thursday.

Average monthly new home sales were up in all four of the state’s largest new home markets, including Austin, Houston, Dallas-Fort Worth and San Antonio, analysts found. In January, Austin reported a 12-month rolling average of 682 new home sales statewide, up from 676 sales in December.

The HomesUSA.com report is based on refined data provided by the Austin Board of REALTORS Multiple Listing Services, researchers explained. According to the HomesUSA.com New Home Sales Index, the sales pace of new homes in Austin improved last month as the Days on Market (DOM) average was 103.83 days in January versus 105.16 days in December. The four major new home markets in the state all saw a decline in their monthly DOM, the HomesUSA.com New Home Sales Index showed.

“Austin new home sales are starting off strong,” Ben Caballero, owner of HomesUSA.com and a current Guinness World Record title holder for home sales, said in a prepared statement. “Austin builders received good news across the board: more new homes were sold, they sold faster and prices were stable. This positions Austin builders well for a robust 2020 new homes sales market.”

The average sales price of a new home in Austin remained stable in January, Caballero added. In Austin, the 12-month rolling average sales price of a new home in January was $374,705 versus $374,450 in December. New home sales prices were marginally higher in three of the four biggest new home markets in Texas, including Austin, Dallas-Fort Worth and San Antonio, the real estate agent said. Only Houston posted a slightly lower average new home sales price in January, he added.

Caballero noted HomesUSA.com is improving its monthly housing report’s accuracy by removing listings with ZIP codes outside each market area; removing listings with a sales-to-list price greater than 20 percent (to avoid including non-arm’s length sales); and removing homes that were listed as new construction but were not. The company also is adding 3-month rolling averages to its monthly new homes report.

Caballero shared the Texas new homes report ahead of the release by the Commerce Department of its national New Residential Home Sales report for February scheduled on Wednesday, Feb. 26. Caballero provided statewide statistics ahead of the Commerce Department report:

Days on Market – New Homes in Texas

According to the HomesUSA.com New Home Sales Index, in Houston, the average Days on Market decreased in January to 118.21 days versus 118.96 in December. The average DOM in Dallas-Fort Worth was 101.09 versus 101.49, while in San Antonio, the DOM was 99.46 versus 100.58.

See Chart 1: Texas New Homes Days on Market

Texas New Home Sales Data

In Houston, the state’s top new home sales market, January sales were 1,319 versus 1,305 in December. Dallas-Ft. Worth’s sales were 1,452 versus 1,428. San Antonio’s sales were 577 versus 573.

See Chart 2: Texas New Home Sales

Texas New Home Prices

The average new home sales prices were up slightly in three of the four biggest new home markets in Texas. In Austin, Dallas-Fort Worth and San Antonio average new home prices increased, while Houston saw its average new home sales price decrease slightly in January.

In Dallas-Fort. Worth’s average new home price for January was $372,812 versus $372,805 for December. In San Antonio, the average new home price was $299,183 versus $299,170. The average new home price for Houston was $347,706 versus $348,061.

See Chart 3: Texas New Home Prices)

Texas Pending New Homes Sales Data

Pending new home sales continue to decline in all Texas' top new home markets last month. Austin posted January pending sales of 642 versus 696 in December. Houston pending sales were 1,051 versus 1,118. Dallas-Fort. Worth’s pending sales were 1,249 versus 1,320, and San Antonio’s pending sales were 434 versus 464.

See Chart 4: Texas Pending New Home Sales

Sales-to-List-Price Ratio Data for New Homes

HomesUSA.com is adding a new chart for 2020 that tracks the change between the original sales price when a home was first listed for sale and the final price when it was sold. In January, the 12-month rolling average of sales-to-list-price ratio for new homes sold in Texas was 97.954 percent versus 97.935 percent in December.

The average sales-to-list-price ratio for Austin in January was 98.664 percent versus 98.636 percent for December. In Dallas-Fort. Worth, the average sales-to-list-price ratio was 97.846 percent versus 97.836 percent. The average sales-to-list-price ratio for Houston was 97.530 percent versus 97.529 percent. In San Antonio, the average sales-to-list-price ratio was 98.355 percent versus 98.275 percent.

See Chart 5: Texas Sales-to-List-Price Ratio)

About the HomesUSA.com New Home Sales Index

The HomesUSA.com New Home Sales Index is a 12-month rolling average of the Days on Market (DOM) for new homes listed solely in the local Multiple Listing Services (MLSs) for the four largest Texas markets, including Dallas-Fort. Worth, Houston, Austin, and San Antonio. Created by Caballero, founder and CEO of HomesUSA.com, it is the first index to solely track the sale pace of new home sales.

About Ben Caballero and HomesUSA.com®

Ben Caballero, founder and CEO of HomesUSA.com, holds the current Guinness World Record title for “Most annual home sale transactions through MLS by an individual sell side real estate agent.” Ranked by REAL Trends as America’s top real estate agent for home sales since 2013, Ben is the most productive real estate agent in U.S. history. He is the only agent to exceed $1 billion in residential sales transactions in a single year, a feat first achieved in 2015 and repeated each year through 2018, when he achieved more than $2 billion. An award-winning innovator and technology pioneer, Ben works with more than 60 home builders in Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston, Austin, and San Antonio.

His podcast series is available on iTunes and Google Play. An infographic illustrating Ben’s sales production is here. Learn more at HomesUSA.com |Twitter: @bcaballero - @HomesUSA | Facebook: /HomesUSAdotcom.