San Antonio’s housing inventory declined last month, contrary to the trend seen in most major U.S. cities.
Data from Homes.com show that the number of listings in San Antonio dropped by 249 homes, or 1.6 percent, compared to a year ago. Among the nation’s 40 largest metropolitan areas, only San Francisco also saw a decrease, with 27 fewer listings than last August. All other major cities increased their available homes for sale. In contrast, Houston experienced a significant increase in inventory—up 22 percent—to more than 43,000 listings.
“It’s a strange position for a Sun Belt market like San Antonio to be in at the moment,” said Daniel Khalil, an analyst at CoStar. “For San Antonio really to be the only major Sun Belt market to see a decrease year over year — it’s a small decrease, almost flat — I think that speaks to the resiliency of San Antonio as a market.”
Earlier this year, San Antonio had the highest rate of canceled home sales nationally as sellers hesitated to adjust expectations amid changing market conditions.
Now, many sellers appear content to wait rather than list their properties.
“A lot of people have really good equity and really good rates on their property, so they’re just holding tight,” said Clint Neal, co-founder of local brokerage Neal and Neal.
Despite buyers having more leverage during negotiations recently, Grant Lopez, president of Keller Williams of San Antonio, noted that current conditions do not amount to a buyer’s market.
“It feels to a lot of people like we’re in a down market. We’re actually not. We’re just back to our normal market that we always operated on,” Lopez said. “It’s like running on a treadmill: If you’re used to running five miles an hour, and you up it to ten for a good long while — if you lower it down, it’s going to feel like you’re walking suddenly. But you’re not walking; you just had a long sprint.”
The median price for homes in San Antonio has changed little this year and now stands at $265,000 according to Redfin data.
Other Texas markets have seen greater price drops this year. Houston’s median sale price is about $336,000 and has mostly remained below last year’s levels since April except for one brief period in August when prices were up by one percent over the previous year. Dallas followed similar patterns with declines as much as five percent earlier this year but now shows its median price—$412,000—as one percent higher than last year. Austin’s median sale price is currently $440,000 and lagged behind last year’s figures from December through August. Other Sun Belt cities such as Phoenix and Orlando have also recorded moderate declines in home values.
“We need this kind of stabilization to happen at a certain point because it just can’t continue to rise and rise and rise,” Lopez said.
