Web Posted: 06/14/2006 12:55 AM CDT
Jennifer Hiller
Express-News Business Writer

The American dream is getting pricier in San Antonio.

Home buyers are spending $11,500 more for the median-priced home this year than they did in 2005.

The median price of existing homes reached $137,100 in the first five months of the year. That’s up 9 percent over 2005, when the median price was $125,600, according to data released by the San Antonio Board of Realtors Multiple Listing Service.

But home sellers can continue celebrating. It’s their market.

As San Antonio’s home prices continue to edge higher, homes are moving off the market at a hasty pace.

Homes spent an average of 65 days on the market in the first five months of the year, compared with 74 days last year. In May alone, the number was 61 days on the market, compared with 66 days last year.

“San Antonio is doing well in terms of home sales and in terms of construction activity,” said Jim Gaines, research economist with the Real Estate Center at Texas A&M University. “That’s because employment is still growing reasonably well and the population is growing reasonably well.”

San Antonio is not alone. Though much of the rest of the nation has a weakening real estate market, that’s not the case in Texas, Gaines said.

“Most of the Texas market is doing similar to San Antonio,” he said. “2006 is at least starting out the year better than 2005.”

San Antonio’s potential buyers got a little relief when an additional 3,379 existing homes came onto the market for resale in May, swelling the number of listings to more than 8,000.

That’s considered a healthy inventory for the busy summertime home sales season, although it’s still tight — a 4-month inventory. Six months is considered balanced.

But San Antonio buyers also face the tightest new-home inventory in the state.

There’s a 1.5-month supply of new homes in San Antonio. Dallas, Houston and Austin are between 2 and 2.9 months, said Jack Inselmann, vice president of the U.S. Central region for American MetroStudy, a national housing market research firm.

Inselmann said a key driver of San Antonio’s robust real estate market is existing-home sales. San Antonio families have been able to sell homes they’ve lived in for a long time, make a profit and trade up to a nicer existing or newly built home, which helps drive the new-construction market in the area.

Some national publications, including Fortune magazine, predicted 9 percent appreciation for San Antonio, but MetroStudy expects prices on existing homes may appreciate as much as 15 percent this year.

“Existing homes sell very quickly,” he said. “If people see one they like, they’d better put a contract on it before they walk out the door. You can’t wait until the next day.”

Travis Kessler, CEO of the San Antonio Board of Realtors, said the largest chunk of buyers — about 28 percent — is shopping for homes priced around the median, between $100,000 and $150,000.

About 25 percent of people are buying homes under $100,000.

And about 20.2 percent are buying in the $150,000 to $200,000 price range.

Real estate agents say houses across all price levels are moving on and off the market rapidly.

Sandi Peerman, a real estate agent with Bradfield Properties, recently had a $200,000 home go under contract in 11 days, a $150,000 house go under contract in two days, and a condo priced below $100,000 that got four offers in two days.

“They’re basically going at full price,” she said. The real estate market also has benefited from the weather, she said.

“The spring and early summer shows landscaping and yards at their very best,” Peerman said. “No one wants to look at homes when it’s cold and rainy.”

So far, sales volume is up 7 percent this year, with 9,117 home sales by the end of May. Last year there were 8,555 sales in the same period.