Home sales rise 32% in July

Category: Property Types, Real Estate Market Update, Residental, Travis County, Williamson County No Comment August 27, 2011

Homes sales are up 32% compared to the same month a year ago, Austin Board of Realtors reported this week. But not all news are positive: the median sales price fell 11%, indicating a shift demand from higher to lower-priced homes.
The report notes that July brought 1,973 home sales, compared with 1,499 in July 2010, while the median sales price dropped to $196,750.
While Austin’s homes sales market gave a strong sign of recovery in July, the national picture was bleaker, as homes sales didn’t recorded any rise, but they dropped 3.5% last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.76 million homes, according to the National Association of Realtors.
Year-to-date through July, the Austin Board of Realtors reported 11,240 sales, the same amount as were sold in the same period on 2010.
Nationally, the 4.67 million sales pace is far below the 6 million that economists say must be sold to sustain a healthy housing market. This year’s level lags behind last year’s total sales of 4.91 million, which were the weakest sales figures in 13 years.