Austin-area home sales grew by 34 percent in September compared to a year earlier. from the Austin Board of Realtors says almost 2,391 single-family homes were sold last month.
Homes are spending an average of 44 days on the market, which is 22 days fewer than a year ago.
In many cases, homes are being sold by word of mouth before they鈥檙e even listed, according to housing economist Jim Gaines at the
"It鈥檚 just hot," he said. "There鈥檚 a lot of people moving to Austin. But also, people who are already in Austin are saying, 鈥業f I want to move up, move over, move out of rental and go into owner-occupied, I better be doing it soon because home prices are going up.'"
The median sales price for homes in the Austin-area last month was $223,000, up by 13 percent from a year ago. Gaines says he expects prices to level out in 2014.
鈥淭hat long-term outlook for Austin is still very positive," Gaines said. "You really don鈥檛 want prices to up 9, 10, 11, 12 percent a year. Then you have that bubble effect and run the risk of a big, dramatic falloff somewhere in the future."
