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Head West For San Antonio Area's Hottest Home Markets

King Castleberry
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Contributed photo

The three hottest zip codes for home sales in the San Antonio area are to the far west and northwest, according to the San Antonio Board of Realtors.

 

Ground zero for San Antonio’s explosive growth is around Helotes, Alamo Ranch, and Castroville, said Lorena Pena, chairman of SABOR.

The region has some attractive selling points for buyers, she said.

“I think there is a wide range of price points,“ Pena said. “There’s also great employment from military to medical and everything in between. You’ve got new build. You’ve got existing homes.”

Many buyers are new arrivals from California, discovering many things to like about the housing market in San Antonio, she said.

”They’ll be able to see how much they can get for the money in San Antonio and still have, again, great employment, activities, restaurants. Everything that you could want in a city and still have affordability,” Pena said.

With home prices and demand up — and inventory struggling to keep up — it’s a seller’s market, she said. But Pena warns sellers not to stray too far from appraised values because the sky is not the limit.

She added that fixer uppers are not really a hot trend right now, so if you are a seller, your home needs to be fixed, clean, and ready to sell.

She also has some advice for buyers.

“Unfortunately, it’s not a market where you can sleep on it and think about it,” Pena said. “If you walk into a home and you like it, you need to have your lending ready to go. You need to have your preapproval letter and these are all things your realtor can help you through, walk you through that process.”

The influence of millenials on new home design continues in the form of built-in smart technology and something for their pets.

“In the laundry room, I have seen, you know, places to wash your dog, so you’re not doing in the tub,” she said.

She says other design trends have not changed much in recent years. Open spaces, natural light, neutral colors, and large closets with plenty of storage areas remain in demand.

The first place buyers want to go when they step in a house are the kitchen, and the master bath and bedroom, which also hasn’t changed in recent years, she said.

According to the most recent sales numbers available from SABOR, more than 3,300 homes were sold in the San Antonio market in May, an eight percent increase over May of last year.

The average and median sales prices in May, $270,000 and $231,000 respectively, were both up 5 percent over last May.

SABOR also reports 57 percent of all homes sold in May were between $200,000 and $500,000. Slightly more than 36 percent were below $200,000 and only 6 percent were above $500,000.

Brian Kirkpatrick can be reached at brian@tpr.org