Here’s what the latest stats say about our market. Looking to buy a home? Search All Homes Looking to sell a home? Get a Free Home Value Report Another month has gone by in 2021, spring is still here, and the latest real estate market statistics have been released from San Antonio and the surrounding areas. What do they say? For the metro area, year to date, the median home price sits at $282,865, we’ve had 35,810 closed sales (up 16.2% year over year), and there are 43,542 active listings (down 53% year over year). 53% is a big drop, so if you’re thinking about selling, we need you to hit the market. Buyers would like to have more options, and they just don’t have many right now. Why is that? It’s because our months of inventory is down to 1.3 months, which is a 1.7-month drop year over year. The average days on market stands at 45 days, but that number depends on the price range. It’s probably a little less in the lower price ranges and a little more in the higher ones. Moving on, the median price per square foot is $140.60 (up 12% year over year), the median home size is 2,015 square feet, the median year built is 2003, and the original list-to-close price ratio is 99.3%. Like the average days on market, that last statistic depends heavily on the price range. In some areas, it’s as high as 105%, 107%, and even 110%.   “ You better know how to write an offer if you’re a buyer, and you need to be willing to put your pocketbook where your pen goes. ”   Here in San Antonio, the median price per square foot is $148 (up 14% year over year) and the number of new listings is 3,739. The number of active listings, meanwhile, is 4,340, and the number of pending sales is 3,622. The percentage at which each price range comprises the market breaks down as follows: $0 to $199,000: 18.8% $200,000 to $499,000: 70.76% $500,000+: 10.44% The $200,000-and-under price range used to have the largest market share. The $500,000+ price range used to hover between 3% and 6%, but now it’s over 10%. That’s huge news for San Antonio. It also highlights a problem we’re facing: affordability is quickly shrinking. Finally, the months of inventory sits at 1.3 months. As you can see, we’re still very much in a seller’s market where it’s difficult for buyers to buy a house. You better know how to write an offer if you’re a buyer, and you need to be willing to put your pocketbook where your pen goes. For example, I recently listed a home for a client that got 14 offers and sold for way over list price. If you’d like to know more about our market or have any real estate needs at all, don’t hesitate to reach out to me. I’d love to help you.

 To get top dollar for your home, you need to work with an experienced agent. Looking to buy a home? Search All Homes Looking to sell a home? Get a Free Home Value Report Why should you hire an experienced agent to help you in this market? This is a common but important question that I’d like to address today. No matter if it’s on the buying or selling side, it takes a lot of experience to know how to navigate the current market. An experienced agent will have a good plan for introducing your home to the market. They’ll know exactly how to stage and prepare it, price it, and present it so that you not only end up with maximum traffic, but that you also get offers for more than the list price. If you work with newer agents, you’ll want to make sure they have a good support system with whom they can confer for good advice. Why is pricing your home correctly so important? In this market, most homes are getting multiple offers, so you might think that listing yours well above market value is a good idea. I’m here to say that that’s simply not true; if you price your home according to the most current market conditions, you’ll end up with more than what your house is worth.   “ In this market, you shouldn’t have to reduce your price—you should be able to pick the right person who will pay the difference out of pocket. ”   At the same time, another reason to work with an agent who is experienced in handling multiple offers is that the highest-priced offer isn’t always the best offer. There are many aspects of an offer to consider, such as financing details, appraisal dates, and whether they’re willing to put their pocketbook where their pen went. For example, say you have a property listed at $300,000 and a buyer submits an offer for $330,000, provided that your home appraises for that amount. Regardless of how many offers you get, there won’t be any comparables that suggest your home is worth the extra $30,000, so odds are when the appraisal comes in, the buyer won’t pay the difference. Instead, they’ll want you to come down on the price. In this market, you shouldn’t have to reduce your price—you should be able to pick the right person who will pay that difference out of pocket. That’s why being able to evaluate these components is so important; if you pick the wrong offer and the deal falls apart, you’ll have to relist the home and put yourself at risk of losing top dollar. If you have any questions about selling in this market or how an agent can help you get the most money in the shortest amount of time, don’t hesitate to reach out to us. The agents in our office are all experienced and capable, and we’d love to help you find success.

 Here’s the latest market news as we wrap up the first quarter of 2021. Looking to buy a home? Search All Homes Looking to sell a home? Get a Free Home Value Report What’s been happening in our San Antonio real estate market over the last 30 days? We currently have 2,626 new listings on the market for a total of 4,518 active listings. Meanwhile, we have 2,560 pending listings. As of the recording of this video, we’ve seen a 15% increase over last year in the price per square foot for an average of $148. The average sales price, $314,810, also reflects recent gains in the market. The median sales price is now at $264,100, which is an 11% increase year to date. Days on market right now is 51—23 fewer days than this same time last year. Additionally, we’re only working with 1.4 months of inventory; our supply is still trending downward. Whereas Austin has been experiencing a new construction lot waiting list for quite some time now, we’re just now seeing this phenomenon here in San Antonio. At the moment, there’s a moratorium on building in some neighborhoods, meaning that builders simply will not build on certain lots. Nor will they even have so much as a waiting list. Some are purposely selling just one spec home a week. In previous markets, you’d be able to build a house in five or six months max; now, new construction tract homebuyers are waiting an average of seven to nine months.   “ Thanks to the pandemic, we have a shortage of basic building materials and a massive wave of demand. ”   What gives? A lot of this backup is due to the fact that many builders can’t get their arms wrapped around pricing. They don’t want to guarantee anyone a price for a patch of dirt when they don’t even truly know what it will cost them to build there. That uncertainty revolves around skyrocketing material prices. Take plywood, for example. A sheet used to run you about $12, but nowadays it’s $40 minimum. Thanks to the pandemic, we have a shortage of basic building materials and a massive wave of demand. It’s hard for builders to churn out more houses when they don’t even know what each new house will cost them. Hopefully, this message provided some much-needed context for our rather hectic market. It’s still a fabulous time to sell a home, so if you’re in need of highly experienced, professional representation, reach out to us today. Even if you just have some general market-related questions, we’d love to hear from you and be of assistance. We look forward to hearing from you soon.