Friday, April 19, 2024
GRANBURY ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS
Denise Huber is the association executive of the Granbury Association of Realtors. The GAR provides services and resources to the Realtors of Hood and Somervell counties.
If you are a “seller” in today’s real estate market – you are on Cloud 9. You are confident that your home will sell quickly – if priced correctly – and you will get asking or near asking price and, in some cases, more! If you are a “buyer,” you are frustrated and working hard to find a home.
A lot has changed when comparing 1st quarter 2020 to 1st quarter 2021.
Let us begin with median price — which has increased 17% over last year. The median price per square foot is following suit. It has increased 9% over Q1 2020. And active listings continue to decline -60%, which is driving the prices up!
Months of Inventory continues to decline. Depleted inventory is the greatest challenge to Texas’ housing market, pushing up prices at elevated rates as demand remains strong, making it one of the most competitive housing markets for homebuyers since the 2006-07 housing boom.
The housing supply in Texas decreased from three months of inventory in the first quarter of 2020 to 1.3 months of inventory Q1 2021.
Hood County has followed suit. It currently has 1.2 months of inventory — homes for sale. This is well below the Real Estate Center at Texas A&M University’s benchmark of 6 to 6.5 months of inventory — which is considered a balanced/robust housing market.
One thing to note with both Q1 in 2020 and 2021 — one-third of the homes sold were in the $200,000 to $299,000 price range, the largest percentage of any price range. That is happening not only in Hood County, but across the state of Texas.
There are several stats — transaction time and valuation stats — that have not changed drastically when comparing the first quarters of 2020 and 2021: 1) days on market; 2) days to close; 3) median home size; and 4) close/original list price. Price distribution has also remained consistent.
