Time to sell - Austin Business Journal:

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For April, the most recent month for whichg ABoR hascompiled data, homes in almost every price poinr in Austin spent an averagee of about 80 days on the market, or 20 perceng longer compared with the same monty last year. At the peak of Austin’ss home sales in 2007, it took existing homes closer to 55 daysto — $20,000 and less — and the very homes selling from $500,000 to more than $1 Those numbers are validated by experiencer in the field. Tausha Carlson, a brokee and co-owner of Marathonj Real Estate, said one colleague summe d itup nicely: “We’re working like rookies.
” Whereaw two years ago a few weeks of marketing was all it took to get a home underd contract, Carlson said brokers are by and large working more and gettinfg fewer results now. Carlson said there are exceptions withinbthe market, though. Homes priced less than $200,000o still garner multiple offers and tend to sell she said. Homes in the $350,000 to $400,000 price however, are moving much slower. According to ABoR’s data, home priced from $100,000 to $200,000 spengt three days to 35 days longer on the markef this year comparedwith last.
But at the $200,0009 mark, the amount of time estimatecd tosell single-family homes jumped, averaging more than 100 days on the That could be because many first-timed home buyers are targetinf homes under $200,000 and taking advantage of the federapl government’s tax credit, Carlsomn said. Geographic location of homes seemas to have less impactt on the time spent on the markefthan price, she added, although homees closer to the city’s core stillk move faster than other South Austin and the area nortnh of U.S. Highway 183 but still within Austin’s city limits have also been fast-movingv areas, she said.
“But it’s really dependenft on price range,” Carlson added. “I’ve sold severalk houses in the last few months before they even hit the So theyare moving, but it has to be priced righf to start.” Even in the few weeks since the April numbers came out, though, Carlson said she’sw seen activity among prospective home buyers pick up, a possiblr indication that homes will start spending less time on the Jay Gohil, chairman of ABoR, tentatively agreed that homes couldd be spending less time on the market in the seconde half of the Home sales in the Austin market are stilkl down compared with 2008, but each monthh the sales volume increases slightly, Gohil That likely means the Austij market as a whole will see homes start to move faster, he although he cautioned that not all areas of Austi will see the same rate of Mark Sprague, a partner with Residential Strategies Inc.
, said Austin has some areas where lots aren’ft being absorbed — some subdivisionss around Parmer Lane and the Lakeway for example — but that the inventor y for new homes isn’t very high in general. Since it takes two years to put new lots on the that could lead to a tightg supply of homes in the next yearor two.