HOME SALES, PRICES SET RECORD FOR SEVENTH YEAR

Last year was another recordbreaker for Central Texas’ housing market, the newest numbers show. And some local real estate agents and housing market experts predict 2018 will look a lot like 2017, with the market staying strong yet concerns about affordability lingering as prices continue their anticipated climb.

The Austin Board of Realtors said Thursday that both sales and the median home-sales price in the region hit all-time annual highs in 2017, the seventh year in a row that the previous year’s numbers were topped.

The board said home sales rose about 2.4 percent to a record 30,059 sales in the Austin-Round Rock metro area, which spans five counties stretching from Georgetown to San Marcos.

Half of the homes sold for more than $299,900 and half sold for less, a 5.4 percent increase in the median price over 2016.

“While the Austin area continues to break records, the pace at which annual home sales and prices are increasing in Central Texas is beginning to normalize, indicating a more stable market,” Steve Crorey, president of Austin Board of Realtors, said in a written statement. At the same time, he noted that “affordability in Austin and the surrounding areas remains a concern for potential buyers.”

State and national events such as flooding from Hurricane Harvey and the overhaul of the U.S. tax plan didn’t impact the housing market locally. Even rising home prices — mainly due to housing demand exceeding supply, market experts say — didn’t stop the market from growing in 2017.

The year closed with 2,653 sales in the Austin region in December, up 12.6 percent over December 2016. December’s median price was $310,000, up 7 percent from growth and the corresponding migration of workers to the Austin area,” said real estate consultant Charles Heimsath, president of Austin-based Capitol Market Research. “And now, the recent increase in home mortgage rates is motivating ‘fence sitters’ to make the move to buy before interest rates increase again. The lack of inventory, particularly at the low end of the market, will continue to push sales prices higher and support a (continued) sellers’ market.”

Isabel Affinito, an agent with JB Goodwin Realtors in Austin, said