ABoR: Central Texas home sales rise, show urban sprawl

​AUSTIN – ​​Single-family home sales increased in the Austin-Round Rock MSA in April, highlighting growing urban sprawl as rising ​housing costs exacerbate affordability challenges, according to the April 2016 Central Texas Housing Market Report from the Austin Board of Realtors.

​Last month, single-family home sales increased 12.5 percent year-over-year to 3,863 home sales in the region. Almost 80 percent of those were sold outside of the city limits. In the five-county MSA, single-family home sales rose 5.1 percent year-over-year to 2,600 sales.

Hays County had the largest annual gain in home sales, with sales jumping 17.8 percent year-over-year to 338. Williamson County was the only county in the area to experience a decline, with sales dropping 5.1 percent year-over-year to 816.

Within city limits​, sales held steady at 829, a 1.7 percent increase from a year ago and nearly equivalent to the sales volume in all of Williamson County in April 2016.

Monthly housing inventory in Austin-Round Rock remained low at 2.3 months. This is nearly two-thirds less than the 6.5-month level the Real Estate Center cites as a balanced market.​