S.A. home sales see continued decline

Home sales in the San Antonio area tumbled for an 11th consecutive month in February as higher mortgage rates and prices sidelined buyers and spooked sellers.

Prices continued to rise. Buyers in Bexar and surrounding counties closed on 2,287 homes last month, down 17 percent from a year ago, according to the latest data from the San Antonio Board of Realtors.

As sales have slowed, the supply of homes has expanded. It was at 3.3 months in February, more than double the 1.4 month supply recorded last February. They’re also taking longer to sell: The average time on the market in February was 70 days, a big increase from 38 days a year earlier.

Though price growth has slowed in recent months, sale prices — as well as rental and mortgage rates — are still higher than a year ago. The median sale price was $310,000 in February, up 2 percent from a year earlier.

The U.S. average for a 30-year fixedrate mortgage was 6.6 percent as of Thursday, down from 6.73 percent a week earlier but up from 4.16 percent a year earlier, according to mortgage financing giant Freddie Mac.

As the combination of higher rates and prices added hundreds of dollars to average monthly payments, San Antonio-area home sales fell 11 percent in 2022 — the first annual decline since 2010. The median sale price jumped 13.1 percent to $320,000 and the tight supply of available homes loosened, with inventory rising from 1.4 months to 3.1 months and active listings increasing 41.7 percent.

Rents are higher, too. The median rate in the San Antonio metro area was $1,275 last month, up 3.3 percent year-overyear, according to home search website Apartment List. Median rents rose 3.7 percent in 2022 and are up 0.4 percent year-to-date in 2023.

San Antonio’s slowdown is mirrored in Texas’ other major metros.

February sales fell 23 percent in Houston and the median price declined 1.6

percent to $320,000, the first price decrease in nearly three years, according to the Houston Association of Realtors. In Austin, sales were down 17 percent and the median price plunged 12 percent to $436,419, the Austin Board of Realtors reported. In the Dallas-fort Worth area, sales slid 0.8 percent and the median price rose 1.6 percent to $384,169, according to the Metrotex Association of Realtors.

The National Association of Realtors has not yet reported February data. But existinghome sales declined for the 12th consecutive month in January, dropping 36.9 percent yearover-year. Inventory rose to 2.9 months from 1.6 months and the median price rose 1.3 percent to $359,000 during the same period.

“Home sales are bottoming out,” said chief economist Lawrence Yun. “Prices vary depending on a market’s affordability, with lower-priced regions witnessing modest growth and more expensive regions experiencing declines.”