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.
Buyer Fatigue: Why More Homes Doesn't Always Make Buying Easier
One of the biggest misconceptions in real estate is that more inventory automatically makes buying a home easier. It seems logical. If there are more homes on the market, buyers should have more choices and an easier time finding the right one. But after doing this for more than a decade, I can tell you that's often not how it plays out.
As inventory grows beyond four months, buyers begin experiencing something called buyer fatigue. I usually tell my clients to use the 80/20 rule. If a home checks about 80% of the boxes, it's probably worth serious consideration. The challenge is that once inventory starts piling up, most of the homes sitting on the market are there for a reason. One house has the giant backyard and updated kitchen but it's two stories when you wanted one. Another is beautifully remodeled but backs to a busy road. Another has the perfect layout but no bathtub in the primary bathroom and no practical way to add one. Individually, none of those compromises seem like a deal breaker. After you've looked at 30 or 40 homes, though, every compromise starts to feel bigger than it really is.