“June hot” in January

SA housing market kicks year off to a strong start

Although interest rates haven’t appreciably moderated, there’s been an uptick in the housing market.
San Antonio’s housing market is seeing an uptick — but will it last?

Although it’s still early days into the new year, the past few weeks have seen a surge in housing market activity.

Earlier this week, Jason Glast, with San Antonio-based Phyllis Browning Co. and one of the city’s highest-producing luxury agents posted “The San Antonio real estate market is June hot in January. Buyers are sick of waiting for rates to drop [sic] ”.

Although the luxury market has generally been more resilient than the middle-income market when it came to the increase in interest rates since 2022, Glast said many buyers in the luxury space were still sidelined.

Even though rates have not appreciably moderated, he believes the uptick means something else must have given way to pent-up demand to purchase a home.

“Since the day after Christmas, the action has been as hot as anything in late spring or early summer,” Glast told the Business Journal. “Last year we had two properties under contract with the title company —this year it’s 17.”

Glast said he expected to have difficult conversations with sellers for homes that didn’t move after the presidential election in November, but many of those homes have now gone under contract.

“There have been so many deals my team hasn’t had enough time to do its usual preparation for the spring buying season,” he said.

It isn’t just the luxury market, either. San Antonio’s housing market has enjoyed an overall auspicious beginning to 2025.

“We have seen a 21% increase in open orders for the first two weeks of January year over year and we’re happy to see more activity at the start of the year but it’s too early to tell what the year holds for the housing marking,” said Kara McGregor, senior vice president of Austin-based Independence Title.

“Typically, much of the real estate world stays quiet until the second week of January, so this is a very small data sample. But we’re leaning in on everything we can control and working for a successful 2025.”

Glast said even homes which didn’t fetch luxury price tags last year have been garnering increased interest from buyers.

Given the enormous popularity enjoyed by San Antonio’s housing market, he cautioned that declining interest rates could drive the market into a frenzy.

“If interest rates dropped, I think borrowers would find themselves in a far worse position because competition would be out of control,” he said. “Bidding wars, and everything going for outrageous prices. Right now, it’s more balanced.”

By Ramzi Abou Ghalioum – Reporter, San Antonio Business Journal
Jan 22, 2025