Home construction in Austin has slowed in the third quarter from the third quarter of last year, with 5% fewer new construction starts in 2018 than in 2017, according to Metrostudy data. Starts have also fallen on a year-over year basis, falling 3.2% from September 2017 to September 2018.
One reason starts are slowing is because developers are unable to deliver enough available lots to build on, said Vaike O’Grady, Metrostudy’s Austin regional director.
“For the past few quarters, developers have barely been keeping up with the pace of home starts. That’s because in some high-growth municipalities, development approvals are taking longer. And with the past four to six weeks of rainy weather, we see even more delays. I don’t see this trend changing soon,“O’Grady said.
O’Grady does note that closings have risen 12.5% year over year, showing that demand has remained strong.
Over the past three years, homes in the $200,000s have made up the bulk of Austin’s new home starts. The market for homes with prices below that number has shrunk to 7% over the past four years. The median base price for a new home in the Austin area was $290,429 in the third quarter, up 1.8% from percent from $285,399 in this quarter last year.
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