Zillow: Austin’s housing market has been ‘cooling’ since pandemic

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AUSTIN (KXAN) — Zillow recently released its 2023 March market report, and it said home price growth in the U.S. accelerated during the month while competition heated up over record-low new listings. The real estate company said added price growth was now back in line with pre-pandemic trends.

“The typical U.S. home value climbed 0.9% from February to March, the strongest growth since last June. The Zillow Home Value Index is 3.0% higher than one year ago and 3.2% lower than its peak last July, which was followed by 6 straight months of declines,” Zillow said in the report.

According to the real estate company, this month’s turnaround confirmed market conditions quickly transitioned from a slow seller’s market in late 2022 to a typical springtime seller’s market.

As for Austin, Zillow said the area overall has been cooling since the pandemic.

The company said there was a 0.2% increase in month-over-month price growth that was less than the national average of 0.9%. Monthly mortgage costs were also up 14.7% month over month, listed at $3,152.

As for inventory, Zillow said there has been a 0.1% drop in new listings since 2019 in Austin, and the overall inventory has decreased by 15.1% since March 2019.

For the U.S., Zillow said overall active inventory was still 36% below March 2020 levels, due to the rate lock that is keeping existing owners in their homes – which means that potential home buyers have fewer options to choose from. This shortage of inventory has led to a surge in home prices in many areas, with monthly mortgage costs up 24.7% month over month, at $2,181.