Housing market booming in South Texas

Dalondo Moultrie The Seguin Gazette

Seguin and Guadalupe County currently are in what constitutes a seller’s housing market.

That is great for those trying to sell a house or folks building new homes, but it could be a nightmare for home buyers. Buyers are snapping up houses as fast as they hit the market. Often, they need help finding homes when moving around this area, Corner Post Real Estate broker and Four Rivers Association of Realtors past president Katie Clark said.

“They’d better either have cash in hand or be pre-approved with a lender,” she said. “They’d better be working with a Realtor that can get them in a house that day it hits the market. Time is of the essence. You cannot hesitate

in this market.”

If prospective buyers don’t have the cash to move into homes with median prices in February of $246,600, they’ll have to make some life-changing decisions, Clark said.

“They’ll have to rent or else not move here,” she said.

According to a housing report by Four River Association of Realtors, median costs for houses in Seguin in February of this year rose 40.6% from the previous year. Buyers could not find homes in the city that were less than $100,000 in February, the report read.

Homes priced between $100,000 and $199,999 made up 29.6% of inventory, those $200,000 - $299,999 55.6%, $300,000 - $399,999 13% and ones priced between $400,000 and $499,999 accounted for 1.9% of houses on the market, the report read.

Seguin had a limited supply of homes for sale at all, the report read. Only 1.7 months of inventory — the number of houses generally sold in a month — was available in February 2021, compared to 2.8 months of inventory the same month last year.

The numbers skew heavily in favor of sellers, Clark said.

“Absolutely it’s a seller’s market,” she said. “We are sitting on [about] one month of inventory right now. One month of inventory is definitely a seller’s market.”

Several factors come into play when discussing the tightening availability of homes for sale and the rising prices, Clark said. Of course, supply and demand are significant contributors, she said.

Construction costs are up, and the population is growing, Clark said.

“We have a growing, growing job base,” she said. “A lot of that is because it’s Texas, and we’re on the I-10 corridor. Transportation is good. We’re close to State Highway 130.”

Seguin is sitting pretty for more industry to come to town, Clark said. The city is attractive to industries thanks to logistics such as being near a pair of big, metropolitan cities, she said.

Thanks to COVID-19, more people work from home, making a living outside of major urban areas not only more attractive but also more easily accomplished. Employees don’t have to fight rush hour traffic every day or deal with other big city factors, Clark said.

Seguin itself and its surrounding areas aren’t new to being considered hot spots, she said.

“This area has always been one of the most attractive areas in the country,” Clark said. “Overall, we have great weather. We have a lot of sunshine. We have diversity in jobs. For the most part, the industry kept going with COVID and people kept their jobs.”

People in other areas were prevented from working. It angered them and led them to Texas — particularly, this area of the state — for relocation, Clark said.

“There’s nothing that made people more angry than they could not work and make money,” she said. “They felt like that was an injustice. I think that’s why they’re here.”

Now that they’re here, finding houses to buy is an issue, Clark said. And indicators continue to point to the market holding steady for some time to come, she said.

So, people in that market looking to make moves need to have someone educated and accomplished on their side, Clark said. Trying to buy a house in this market without a certified Realtor can have adverse reactions.

“People working from home is allowing them to move out of the big metropolitan cities, but still be in reach of offices to go in a couple of times a week. Therefore, towns and areas that are like Seguin and only a 45-minute commute into Austin and San Antonio are booming,” Clark said. “Most homes on the market face multiple offers and bidding wars. Therefore, now it is more important than ever for buyers and sellers to utilize the expertise of a local Texas Realtor. Utilizing the resources that a Realtor provides and avoiding pitfalls of negotiations and contracts is critical.”

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