Housing market in Austin 'crashing'?: FOX 7 Focus

Is Austin's housing market really "crashing"?

In this week's FOX 7 Focus, John Krinjak speaks with Ashley Jackson, president of the Austin Board of Realtors, about the state of Austin real estate and the impact of the Fed's decision not to raise interest rates.

AUSTIN, Texas - Is the Austin housing market really crashing?

Ashley Jackson, president of the Austin Board of Realtors, joins FOX 7 Austin's John Krinjak to discuss the current state of the Austin housing market and what's next in this FOX 7 Focus.

JOHN KRINJAK: So we saw this headline, this article from Newsweek that said Austin was one of seven cities across the country where the housing market is, quote, crashing. Do you feel like that's accurate or is that being a little overdramatic?

ASHLEY JACKSON: I think that's a little overdramatic, and it's certainly an eye-catching headline. And lots of people will click on it to read it. But the Austin market is not crashing. The Austin market is stabilizing. We've had a price correction, but we remain steady and strong.

JOHN KRINJAK: And in fact, the Austin Board of Realtors monthly report just came out, I understand, on Wednesday. What does that reveal about where things stand right now with the housing market here?

ASHLEY JACKSON: Yeah. So the report showed that the market continues to normalize. You know, we had a crazy pace of sales for this past few years. Now we're seeing a normalization of the market. It is a great time to get into the market and buy a home. There's a lot less competition out there for buyers. We also have more homes, 3.2 months of inventory for a buyer to choose from. So over the past few years, a buyer may have only had one choice in the neighborhood, just one house. Do you like that house? You better get that house. Whereas now a buyer should have 4 to 5 houses to choose from. So it's a great time to be a buyer in the Austin area.

JOHN KRINJAK: It looks like the Fed is putting a pause on raising interest rates, at least for right now, which is that which is a change from what we've seen in the last few months, although they may decide to start raising them again, possibly as soon as next month. How is that affecting or how could that affect the housing market here in Austin?

ASHLEY JACKSON: Well, we have seen that the housing market is sensitive to interest rate changes. So when we see a little bit movement even going down or just staying the same. More buyers get active in our marketplace. Conversely, last fall, when we saw rates hovering around seven or higher, buyers pulled out of the marketplace a little bit to wait. But I'd like to caution buyers that that's really kind of a mistake at this point. You are hard pressed to find the market is stable and is friendly to buyers in Austin as we're seeing it right now. You know, I've lived here about 40 years and I can count on one hand the times that I've seen such a friendly marketplace for a buyer. So don't let the interest rate chatter scare you off.

JOHN KRINJAK: Where do you think the market is headed in the months and years to come? Obviously, it's been kind of a kind of an unusual several years. Obviously, we had the pandemic and then we had prices going up. Where do you see things going as we look ahead?

ASHLEY JACKSON: I think stay on the stable pace that we're on. I do think that the higher interest rates is causing a little pent up demand. And so if we see them ease off a little bit from where they are now, you know, as we move forward into the winter, I do expect that we'll see an increase in buyer demand because, as you know, Austin remains a place for where people want to live. Employers are coming here. Lots of people are still moving to the Austin area. One thing that I would love Austinites to keep in mind is that right now, if you've been in your home for a while and you want to move, you want to get closer to your job, you want to downsize. This is a really great time to do it. There's less competition out there. You've probably got deep equity in your home. This is your time to make your move. And then in a few years you can refi and get a better interest rate. You can date the rate, but marry the house. That's kind of a saying that's been going around for the past year. And honestly, it makes sense. You don't want to buy when everyone else is buying. Now is the time to do it.