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To Buy or Not to Buy: Georgetown's Property Market Now

Monday, November 20, 2017   /   by Meagan Henry

To Buy or Not to Buy: Georgetown's Property Market Now



Georgetown Real Estate Insider's Report:  Are we getting "fake news" about the Austin area real estate market?

 

If you've read or watched practically any local news reports lately, you've heard that the Austin area is a "red hot" real estate market with a shortage of inventory. There are countless stories that short inventory means sellers are commonly receiving multiple offers, selling above the asking price on their homes for sale, and on and on.

 

Here's the REAL story as it relates to Georgetown, Texas real estate property search, buying, and selling right now. It's about supply and demand, and the devil is in the details. (Plus, there's a conclusion about what kind of buyer benefits the most under current market conditions. I'll get to that in a second.)

 

As of the writing of this blog, at the beginning of July in Georgetown, Texas there are 659 active listings looking for a buyer, and 260 listings that are under contract with a buyer. This is the supply. Incidentally, 373 listings are NEW CONSTRUCTION. That's over 40% of the homes for sale here.

Now let's take a look at demand.

 

Over the last 365 days, 2,086 transactions have closed in Georgetown. To figure demand, you divide those sales by 12 months. It comes to about 174 sales closing per month. At that pace, the current available MLS listings in Georgetown would take about 5.3 months to sell off. Given that a "neutral" market between buyers and sellers is generally thought to be 6 months, this is not the same picture as the "red hot" talk we keep hearing about.

...So are we being lied to about the demand for homes for sale? In a word, no.  

 

The truth is real estate is HYPER-local.  That means what's true for Georgetown will be related to, but not equivalent to what's true for Westlake Hills, Central Austin, Lakeway, Round Rock, etc.  Each area has its own supply and demand relationship and every property search or home sale must be conducted accordingly.

 

It also depends on the price range in each area. What we're seeing is that houses in Georgetown in the $200's are selling pretty fast. There's only about 2 months’ worth of supply for homes for sale at this range.  The $400's is a different story; where new construction has brought quite a bit of supply into the market, currently there's over 7 months worth of MLS listings in this range in Georgetown.  

 

Contrast that with Westlake Hills, where you don't hit 6 months of available supply until you're getting closer to a $1 million dollar price tag. Above a million, there's an abundance of choices there. See?  Real estate is hyper-local.  

 

A key difference between a property search in Westlake Hills and Georgetown is that Westlake as a community has very little land left to build on. Georgetown has quite a few communities that are just opening up, like Santa Rita Ranch, Wolf Ranch, Water Oak, Deer Haven, Lakeside, Gatlin Creek, and more.  

 

So what should you conclude by all this?  In Georgetown, it's a great time for MOVE-UP for buyers to start their property search. If you have a home that's worth up to $300,000, there's great opportunity for you to sell at top dollar—especially if you have unique features not available elsewhere in the price point. If you're moving up into the $400's or higher, you'll find that you have an abundance of choices. With the competition out there, there's a better chance at negotiating a "deal."  

 

Now, I realize that some of these numbers may cross your eyes, and that is okay.  The main point is this: My team and I watch this kind of thing daily, so you don't have to. That way, when life has you thinking about making a move, we're already on top of things for you.  Give the Russ Phillips Team a call, and let's talk about where you want to be and what you need to dive into the property search wisely. We'll show you how we live up to our motto:  "Let's get you there."