Redfin: Listings in Texas cities turn stale

AUSTIN (KXAN) — Texas cities landed in recent reports from real estate company Redfin, which claim median prices dropped and that the housing markets have grown stale as listings linger.

Redfin’s Wednesday report said that 64.7% of home listings nationally sat unsold for more than 30 days. This is a 5.1 percentage point increase from June 2023 — the largest year-over-year increase since Redfin started tracking in 2012.

Texas and Florida lead the US in how fast inventory is growing stale. The shares of stale listings in Texas cities have increased year over year and faster than the national average:

• Austin, up 5.2 percentage points
• Dallas, up 10.7 percentage points
• Fort Worth, up 8.1 percentage points
• Houston, up 4.6 percentage points
• San Antonio, up 5.7 percentage points

Many factors can lead to a listing turning sale, such as location, damage and visual appeal. But, cost is a key factor in a home buyer’s decision.

“There are more listings hitting the market, but a lot of them aren’t in good condition or they’re not in a desirable neighborhood–and sellers are pricing unrealistically high,” Redfin premier agent Shay Stein said. “My advice to serious sellers is to price fairly and make cosmetic repairs before listing.”

This lines up with advice from the Austin Board of Realtors, who reported similar data on July 12 .

“[Sellers not budging] is probably a byproduct of what we saw during the pandemic when homes were really flying off the shelves. We’re still seeing remnants of that mentality amongst sellers,” said ABoR economist Dr. Clare Knapp in a July 17 interview with KXAN. “It is going to be important for those sellers to be willing to negotiate a little bit more moving forward, especially amid such a strong uptick and active listings.”

A Tuesday report from Redfin showed the median price of a US home hit an “all-time high” in June at $442,525. However, the June median prices fell in Austin, Dallas, Fort Worth and San Antonio.

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