Cash Is Still King in Southwest Austin Real Estate
Over the last six months, I've been putting together weekly real estate market reports for several Southwest Austin neighborhoods, and I've noticed an interesting trend. It feels like every other closing I see is an all-cash transaction. Now, I haven't gone back and calculated the exact percentage, but it's happening frequently enough that it's caught my attention. In a market where mortgage rates have made affordability challenging for a lot of buyers, it's interesting to see so many people purchasing homes without financing. I've got a couple of theories about why this might be happening, and both have to do with where people are choosing to put their money.
How’s the Austin Real Estate Market? It Depends Who’s Asking.
“How’s the market?” is probably the question I get asked more than any other when someone finds out I’m a Realtor. The problem is there really isn’t one answer. The real estate market is constantly moving between favoring sellers, being relatively balanced, and favoring buyers. One of the primary ways we measure that is months of inventory. Basically, if no additional homes came on the market, how long would it take buyers to purchase everything currently available based on the existing pace of sales? Lower inventory generally favors sellers. As inventory grows, negotiating power begins shifting toward buyers.