Real estate company Redfin calls Austin metro the 'strongest buyer's market' in US
AUSTIN (KXAN) — A report released Wednesday by the real estate company Redfin calls Austin the “strongest buyer’s market” in the U.S., with more than twice as many sellers as it has buyers.
The report also provided a top ten list of U.S. buyer’s markets, with the Floridan cities of Fort Lauderdale, West Palm Beach and Miami as the next strongest. San Antonio, Dallas and Houston all also made it into the top ten.
Chen Zhao, Redfin’s head of economics research, told KXAN that Austin’s large number of sellers means that buyers have more options and thus the “upper hand” in negotiations.
“Where there’s 130% more sellers than there are buyers, buyers really do have considerable amount of power,” she said. “In a market like that, we do expect to see that prices are actually flat or that they’re dropping. And that means that buyers are seeing more affordability than they were a year ago.”
In 2024, the percentage by which buyers outnumbered sellers was 84%.
Data from the Austin Board of Realtors suggest that Austin’s ample inventory has driven down prices. However, it may not be as fast as buyers hope, with Texas Realtors saying that many have adjusted their price ranges upwards.
Zhao also noted that a seller’s price is only one part of a buyer’s consideration. They’ll also have to look at what their mortgage will be.
“After [buyers] have struck a deal, they have to go apply for a mortgage, then they actually see how much it’s going to cost on a monthly basis,” she said. “They have to get insurance, perhaps. They are going to be looking at how much property taxes are going to be, and sometimes that total bill is maybe less friendly than they would have imagined.”
Those factors could contribute to a rise in canceled sales, Zhao said. Another report released Wednesday by Redfin states that 15% of home sales were canceled in September, and a report published in August also showed a similar rate. Most buyers walked following an inspection of the property, according to those reports.
“I don’t think situation would necessarily get worse for sellers, because a lot of the reason why Austin is in this position is because there was a lot of new construction in Austin, and that really added to the amount of supply,” Zhao said. “There’s less new construction that will be rolling out in the future, and we know that starts and permits are also down. So that means that the bulk of the new construction has really already hit. Looking forward, buyers may not necessarily have as much power as they do right now.”
