Texas Home Sales Soar, Housing Inventory Declines In 2020’s Third Quarter

Oct. 22, 2020 – AUSTIN, Texas – The number of Texas homes sold from July to September 2020 increased by nearly 19% compared to the same time frame last year, according to the 2020-Q3 Texas Quarterly Housing Report released today by Texas Realtors.

“The Texas real estate market’s resiliency, especially in the middle of a pandemic crisis, is nothing short of incredible, though our housing supply is still critically low,” said Cindi Bulla, chairman of Texas Realtors. “We are hard at work looking for the supply solutions necessary to keep our market healthy and make the American dream of homeownership attainable to every Texan.”

Home sales increased by 18.4%, with 119,642 homes sold in the third quarter of 2020. Statewide, the median price increased by 8.6% to $266,000.

Of all the homes sold within the third quarter, 34.1% were priced from $200,000 to $299,999, the highest share of sales among all price-class distributions.

Jim Gaines, Ph.D., chief economist with the Real Estate Center at Texas A&M University, commented, “The Texas housing market experienced a strong push-through of demand from the second quarter into the third quarter. Active listings saw a sharp drop with many sellers hesitating to list their property in the middle of a pandemic. However, as the economy and employment numbers continue to recover, we anticipate end-of-year sales figures will be higher than in 2019.”

Active listings declined 32.4% in Q3 to 71,569 listings. Texas homes spent an average of 52 days on the market, two days more than the third quarter of 2019.

Housing inventory in Texas declined 1.3 months to 2.3 months of inventory. According to the Real Estate Center at Texas A&M University, a market balanced between supply and demand has between 6.0 and 6.5 months of inventory.

Bulla concluded, “Although our real estate market remains strong, the data in this report shows there are still long-term implications regarding this housing shortage that need answers, and finding those solutions will remain a major focus for Texas Realtors at the state and local level for 2020 and beyond.”

HIGHLIGHTS

• Compared to the third quarter last year, Austin-Round Rock MSA home sales increased 20.5% to 12,365 single-family home sales, while the median price increased 10.1% to $305,000.
• Statewide, home sales increased by 18.4% to 119,642, while the median price increased by 8.6% to $266,000 during the third quarter of 2020.
• More 2020-Q3 data specific to the Austin-Round Rock MSA housing market as well as statewide figures can be found in the full report on texasrealestate.com.

Data for the Texas Quarterly Housing Report is provided by the Data Relevance Project, a partnership among local REALTOR® associations and their MLSs, and Texas REALTORS®, with analysis by the Real Estate Center at Texas A&M.

The report provides quarterly real estate sales data for Texas and 25 metropolitan statistical areas in Texas. To view the report in its entirety, visit texasrealestate.com.