A Quick Shift in Siena’s Real Estate Market – 2022 Third Quarter Update

The Siena Round Rock real estate market shifted very quickly over the past few months – especially in the 3rd quarter of this year. Prices came down, sales slowed and homes spent longer on the market than they have in over 2 years. As we review the number together, keep in mind that all of our stats are compared to the same time last year – not the second quarter of this year. The changes would be even more drastic if compared to earlier this year. Let’s look at the stats and then we can talk about where the real estate market in Siena is going and what this means for buyers and sellers.

The dramatic shift in the Siena real estate market is not unique to Siena – it has been felt throughout the Austin area and most of the country. In fact, the shift in other areas might be even more drastic than what we are seeing here at home.
Kyle Pfaffe, Siena real estate expert.

New home listings is up over 10.5% compared to the same time last year. The average home value decreased by 7.7% with the median home value of $394,450. There’s been a downturn in the volume of real estate sales of 45.2% to $19.7m and the average price per square foot of sold homes in Siena slightly dropped 19.5% to $124/ft.

The number of homes sold in Q3 of 2022 declined to 33.4% with 70 total homes sold. The average time a home in Siena spent on the market before accepting an offer increased to 27 days compared last year, 12 days.

For some perspective on the Siena real estate market, take a look at one of my Siena real estate reports from 2019!

Where is the Siena Real Estate Market going?

The dramatic shift in the Siena real estate market is not unique to Siena – it has been felt throughout the Austin area and most of the country. In fact, the shift in other areas might be even more drastic than what we are seeing here at home. I see two primary driving factors in this shift – interest rates and overall economic fears. Rising interest rates have severally impacted affordability. For easy math, we use the 1%/10% rule – for every 1% increase in interest rates, affordability is affected 10%. Someone who could afford a payment on a $400,000 home can now only afford the payment on a home around the value of $360,000. And interest rates have gone up by 3 to 4 points depending on what you could have been quoted this Spring. Along with interest rates, consumer fears about where the market could be going has also had an impact on demand and sent some buyers to the sidelines.

There are some domino effects of these changes as well. Here are a few….

Sellers who were considering moving are selling OUT of a rate of around 4% and buying into a rate of around 6% or 7%
Decreased demand has relieved some supply issues and builders have lots of options and incentives for buyers. In the past couple of years, you had a much harder time buying a new home. This is pulling buyers from the resale market and into the new home market.
Some desperate sellers are dropping prices fast in a “race to the bottom” of the market to get any buyers who are out there. We’ve seen some homes sell for much lower than they have recently under normal market conditions.

What will happen in the Siena real estate market the rest of 2022?

No one has a crystal ball for the Siena market and, even with my 6 years of working with Siena neighbors, I don’t either. That being said, you still trust me to give you honest feedback and advice about our Siena market and I’ll do my best to give you some ideas. While the market has shifter quickly, it feels like we are near the bottom of the transition. The market shift has been intensified by our normal Fall seasonal slowdown. The number of homes on the market is slowing dropping and coming more in line with current demand. I think that builder inventory could also be coming down as they finish up their year-end sales drives and new housing starts at not replacing those sold homes as quickly. I expect the Siena real estate market to level off in the next few months but the key driving will remain to be interest rates – if interest rates keep rising, this could drive demand down further.

While it might feel like the Siena housing market is in a never-before-experienced territory, keep in mind that the average time to sell a home in Siena was over 90 days just a few years ago. I think the bigger question for Siena is how healthy our community will be over the next 12 months. Siena has always been a place people wanted to move to for a number or reasons – amenities, location, good home builders – and I hope that continues. I love our community of Siena.

Would you like to sell your home in Siena? Fill out this form and we can start the conversation. You can also receive a Free, INSTANT Home Value Estimate by visiting my website. Curious about other homes for sale in Siena? Check out available properties with plenty of demographic, trends, and other info.