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There are more houses to buy in Bastrop County than last year, which has led to a price drop in the median sales amount, but the cost of purchase is up in Elgin, Bastrop and Smithville, according to recent data from Unlock MLS and the Austin Board of Realtors.
An analysis of home-listing data found houses are taking longer to sell countywide, but that has increased the number of houses available and made them more affordable in some areas.
There were 692 active listings at the end of April countywide when the latest figures were available, up 21.2% from the same month last year. The number of closed sales, however, dipped 25.4% in the month to 91 houses.
The median price houses sold for was $344,900 after spending an average of 136 days on the market, nearly a month longer than April 2024. That’s still considered a bargain in the five-county Austin metro area with an April median sales price in neighboring Travis County of $520,000.
In general, more houses coming onto the market across the region give buyers more choices and stabilize prices compared to a buying boom during and immediately after the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown. Prices soared as buyers could afford more, thanks to record low mortgage lending rates. The tight inventory of houses up for sale created bidding wars and set off another building boom.
“Central Texas’s move toward more balanced market conditions mirrors housing market corrections nationwide, underscoring that what is happening in our market isn’t an anomaly,” said Clare Knapp, housing economist for Unlock MLS and the Austin Board of Realtors.
She added, “What’s unique to the Central Texas housing market is its supply of affordably priced inventory. Austin was one of the most affordability- constrained markets emerging from the pandemic.”
According to her, many parts of the country are still supply-constrained, but in April, the Austin area posted the highest inventory level affordable to the standard household since 2012.
“While this signals progress, especially for first-time homebuyers, significant work remains to improve long-term housing affordability across the region, especially as higher mortgage rates and economic turbulence impact buyer conf idence,” Knapp added.
In Bastrop County, available inventory was 7.6 months, three months more than the same period last year. In the 78621 ZIP code that includes Elgin, the inventory increased to five months, 1.6 months more than last April. Median home prices rose 3.2% to $325,000 on the sale of 50 homes in April.
In the Bastrop-area ZIP code of 78602, the sale of 45 houses in April went for a median of $359,000, down 3.1%. Nearly a month of inventory was added to reach five months.
For the 78957 ZIP code that includes Smithville, median sales price on the sale of 10 houses in April was $322,500, an increase of 19.4% on the sale of just three houses the same month last year. It was a decrease, however, from nearly $350,000 in 2023.
The months of available inventory in Smithville more than tripled to an ample 18.7 months.
A balanced market usually occurs when there are about six months of inventory available. Lower numbers make it a seller’s market and higher inventory is usually to the advantage of the buyer.
Mortgage rates are expected to stay below 7%, but above 6.5% for the rest of the year as the Federal Reserve weighs interest-rate cuts against rising inflation in the face of supply-chain challenges and uncertainty brought on by the Trump administration’s tariffs.
