New high for prices as sales in S.A. rise

The median price of an existing home in San Antonio passed 2008 levels this month. The median price of an existing home in San Antonio passed 2008 levels this month. Photo: Harry Thomas Photo: Harry Thomas Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close New high for prices as sales in S.A. rise 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

Home sales warmed up with the weather in June, with price hitting an all-time high.

The median price of an existing home jumped 7.9 percent, compared with the same month last year, to $168,800, according to sales data released Wednesday by the San Antonio Board of Realtors.

The previous all-time price high was in July 2010, which saw a median of $161,800, according to the Real Estate Center at Texas A&M University.

It was the best June for home prices since the summer of 2008, just before the financial crisis hit the real estate market. And the number of home sales rose 3.7 percent, to 2,018 transactions.

“The numbers are much better than we anticipated,” said Angela Shields, president and CEO of SABOR. “It's proven to be a really good summer for us.”

Shields said that 40 percent of the market in June was for homes priced higher than $200,000. Traditionally, that number has been closer to 30 percent of the market, with 70 percent of house hunting happening below the $200,000 mark.

“I think what we're really seeing from the agents is that consumer confidence is having buyers look above the $200,000 mark,” Shields said. “It's pushing the average and median price up.”

The average home price in June was $209,820, up from $192,514 last June.

The market for resale homes is most active during the summer, as people try to time moves during school summer vacations. Prices usually hit their highest points of the year during June and July.

Tom Patterson of North Loop Inc. Realtors said it is obvious there is more activity in the market this year, with some homes selling within days of listing, although that's not typical.

“There's a lot of traffic out there. There are people looking,” Patterson said.

He recently had one home sell in three days and another in four days, and he has noticed that mortgage loan applications and approvals seem to be going more smoothly.

At the end of June, there were 10,531 existing homes for sale. San Antonio has a 6.9-month inventory of homes. For a long time, buyers have been in the driver's seat during negotiations, but the dropping inventory has been starting to put sellers on more equal footing.

There were 1,705 pending sales at the end of June, according to SABOR.

The Real Estate Center expects the local market to see a 5 percent to 10 percent increase in sales volume for the year and an improvement in the median price of 2 percent to 4 percent.