The San Antonio Board of Realtors released the 2020 Housing Forecast for the San Antonio area on Tuesday during a gathering of more than 1,000 realtors and real estate experts.
The forecast calls for another strong year for home sales, according to SABOR Chair Kim Bragman.
Bragman said there is no crystal ball but expects 2020 will be similar to 2019, when more than 34,000 homes were sold in the area. Home sales in 2019 were up 7% over 2018, she said.
Bragman said far West Bexar County and South San Antonio will remain the biggest hotspots for new home construction because land in those two areas are more affordable for developers.
She said the suburbs continue to lack appeal among young buyers.
“They don’t necessarily want a house in the suburbs,” she said. “Maybe they’re interested in being downtown. Fortunately, San Antonio has a lot going on in the downtown area now. There’s a lot of amenities, a lot of things to do down there.”
Mid-century homes and older historic homes also remain popular with young buyers, she said.
She said 2020 trends in new homes in “the burbs” include open floor plans and cool neutral colors, such as grays and whites.
SABOR reports the new year is starting off with median home prices around $234,000 and average home prices around $270,000.
She said it may be hard to keep home prices down if builders cannot keep pace with demand.
“With the increase in our population expected to grow by another 1 million people between now and 2040, we’re going to see an increase in demand and unless the builders and developers can keep up with that demand, unfortunately I think we’re going to see rising prices,” she said.
Bragman said San Antonio enters 2020 as a seller's market based on year-end figures from 2019. Those numbers suggest it would take about 2.9 months to sell all the properties currently on the market.
SABOR represents more than 12,000 realtors in nine counties: Bexar, Atascosa, Frio, Karnes, Kendall, LaSalle, McMullen, Medina and Wilson counties.
Brian Kirkpatrick can be reached at Brian@TPR.org and on Twitter at @TPRBrian.
