"Will Real Estate Ever Be Normal Again?" (San Antonio: renters, houses)

[Cida]

Sadly emblematic of the way people are worrying everywhere. Even in places you might not expect.



Will Real Estate Ever Be Normal Again?
For Amena and Drew, their Austin home-buying odyssey was just beginning — a monthslong ordeal that would teach them quite a bit about the cruel realities of America’s housing market, in which home prices nationwide have risen by an astonishing 24.8 percent since March 2020. And this first lesson, appropriately enough, demonstrated just one of many ways that the old, measured rules of home-buying no longer applied — that the cutthroat competitiveness that once defined only a few U.S. markets (San Francisco, New York, Los Angeles) had now become standard across the country, as the median home price in small- and medium-size metropolitan areas rose by jaw-dropping levels: Boise, Idaho, 46 percent; Phoenix, 36 percent; Austin, 35 percent; Salt Lake City, 33 percent; Sacramento, 28 percent.
https://falconedge.com/will-real-est...ew-york-times/

[TX Rover]

Ok. And?

[Austin97]

all of those bumps are clearly because inventory was low due to no one wanting to sell their home during covid.

I dont know what will happen but it wouldnt surprise me if the median drops even further to be a reasonable amount over the 2019 level.

[10scoachrick]

Didn't read what time frame the increases were; but I would have bought a certain house(plan) IF it had gone up ONLY 35%. It actually DOUBLED in eight months!!! Can't buy a median, so I really didn't care what the rest of the homes did.

[Need4Camaro]

No one selling
No Forclosures
Limited building material
Increase of demand due to political and CoL issues of coastal cities
Increase of demand due to corporations relocating to the area.

Honestly I doubt we will ever see normal prices again, and not just in Austin but nationwide. I believe home buying is slowly being pushed away from the level of a commodity and to a luxury expense. Middle class America is slowly being transitioned into renters through various mechanics at play.

[Igor Blevin]

Add unprecedented level of purchases by investors like Zillow, 75% of which are cash purchases. Now Zillow has stopped.

[DashRiprock]

Originally Posted by Igor Blevin

Add unprecedented level of purchases by investors like Zillow, 75% of which are cash purchases. Now Zillow has stopped.

I don't understand what the play is here. What does Zillow (or any private investor) hope to gain by buying up a bunch of houses at arguably inflated prices during a bubble? Do they expect this bubble to continue long enough to resell at a profit? Because I can't see this being sustainable much longer, but what do I know.

Do they want to be landlords? Because if that's the goal, wouldn't a plethora of rental properties in a particular area or city tend to decrease the value of the investment overall? Plus who the heck wants to be a landlord?

I mean, the carrying cost of property taxes alone seems prohibitive.

I go to great lengths not to buy into conspiracy theories but the one surrounding this is... I dunno, maybe something to it. Because otherwise I don't get it.

[Austin97]

Originally Posted by DashRiprock

I don't understand what the play is here. What does Zillow (or any private investor) hope to gain by buying up a bunch of houses at arguably inflated prices during a bubble? Do they expect this bubble to continue long enough to resell at a profit? Because I can't see this being sustainable much longer, but what do I know.

Do they want to be landlords? Because if that's the goal, wouldn't a plethora of rental properties in a particular area or city tend to decrease the value of the investment overall? Plus who the heck wants to be a landlord?

I mean, the carrying cost of property taxes alone seems prohibitive.

I go to great lengths not to buy into conspiracy theories but the one surrounding this is... I dunno, maybe something to it. Because otherwise I don't get it.

they thought they had AI and an algorithm to identify undervalued properties that they then could resell to make a profit.

[ashbeeigh]

I’ve also read a few articles about international investors that scare me. Sometimes they buy up entire new build neighborhoods and mess e dry thing up for first time buyers. https://austonia.com/amp/austin-hous...ers-2655380869

I wish I could find the article..I think it was an express news one that went in depth about this effect in far west San Antonio (which gives me Pflugerville vibes).

[atxcio]

Originally Posted by Igor Blevin

Add unprecedented level of purchases by investors like Zillow, 75% of which are cash purchases. Now Zillow has stopped.

I thought I had heard the Zillow Buy service never made it to Austin. It might have been because what cities they initially invested in.