AUSTIN (KXAN) — Finally some good news for buyers who have had a tough time finding a home in the past year: the Austin Board of Realtors says active listings are seeing a triple-digit percentage growth year over year. Inventory is also rising for the first time in seven months.

Jason Whitney is from Chicago but he’s been searching for homes in the Austin area for the past six months.

“The lifestyle, being outdoors a lot, being able to interact in a smaller community where everyone is nice,” Whitney said.

So far, he’s seen a small shift in the market.

“The only thing we have noticed is maybe places have sat a little longer on the market and places that might have been,” explained Whitney.

“If they’re on the market for more than a few days, right now they’re lowering in price as well. So that’s something we have not seen in a very long time as price decreases,” said Nanette Labastida, a realtor at Compass.

Labastida is seeing more and more houses going on the market every weekend. She says her buyers have more choices and can take more time to make decisions.

According to ABoR, active listings skyrocketed 146.2% to 4,173 listings, causing housing inventory to more than double to 1.2 months of inventory, up 0.7 months from last May, as pending sales declined 12.5% to 3,643 transactions.

“The Austin region saw dangerously low levels of inventory, as low as 0.4 months of inventory in January 2021, so this slight increase in inventory and active listings point to the market beginning to normalize,” said Dr. Adam Perdue, research economist at Texas A&M’s Real Estate Center. “While year-over-year price increases will continue to remain high, we project them to fall slightly lower than the long-term trend we’ve monitored over the past two years.”

Perdue also says the affordability issues Austin is facing does not point to the housing market collapsing or a bubble bursting. Labastida says she’s also noticing a dip in listing prices because sellers are slowly noticing the market shift.

“They are still thinking about the last house that sold for ‘X’ amount over the asking price and so the realization kind of hits that that’s not happening. So they just lower the price to the sort of more current climate of the pricing,” Labastida explained.

Austin Board of Realtors also provided the following insights on home sales and listings around the Austin area:

City of Austin

In May, home sales decreased 10% to 1,121 sales, while sales dollar volume increased 5.6% to $923,095,353. At the same time, the median price rose 18.1% setting a new all-time record of $667,000 for the City of Austin.

Last month, new listings increased 4.6% to 1,511 listings, active listings rose 73.8% to 1,067 listings as pending sales dropped by 16.1% to 1,122 pending sales. Monthly housing inventory increased 0.5 months year over year to 1.0 months of inventory.

Travis County

In Travis County, home sales decreased 12.3% to 1,723 sales, while sales dollar volume increased 2.8% to $1,407,201,123. Last month, the median price in Travis County rose 21.1% year over year to $659,000 as new listings increased 13.3% to 2,456 listings and active listings increased 109% to 1,923 listings year over year.

Pending sales declined 15.3% to 1,711 as monthly housing inventory increased 0.7 months year over year to 1.2 months of inventory.

Williamson County

May home sales decreased 9.3% to 1,210 sales in Williamson County. Sales dollar volume rose 7.6% year over year to $679,174,923. The median price increased 18.5% to $509,000 as new listings rose 11% to 1,692 listings.

During the same period, active listings rose 173.6% to 1,272 listings while pending sales dropped 17.2% to 1,215 pending sales. Housing inventory rose 0.7 months to 1.1 months of inventory.

Hays County

In Hays County, May home sales increased 5.2% to 467 sales, while sales dollar volume rose 33.3% to $296,8785,043. The median price for homes jumped 25.3% to $470,000.

During the same period, new listings increased 48.4% to 791 listings, while active listings increased by 243.8% to 698 listings. Pending sales stayed level at 505 pending sales as housing inventory rose by 1.2 months to 1.7 months of inventory.

Bastrop County

Last month, Bastrop County home sales increased 37.4% year over year to 169 sales, while sales dollar volume rose 62.4% to $74,151,012. The median price also increased 24.1% to $400,900 as new listings rose 55.4% to 230 listings.

Active listings soared 179% to 226 listings and pending sales increased 21.5% to 164 pending sales. Housing inventory increased 1.1 months to 1.7 months of inventory.

Caldwell County

In Caldwell County in May, home sales increased 137% to 64 home sales, and sales dollar volume rose 186.9% to $23,108,621. The median home price rose 43.8% year over year to $345,000.

At the same time, new listings rose by 93.8% to 62 listings as active listings also increased 107.7% to 54 listings. Pending sales rose 45.5% to 48 pending sales, and housing inventory increased 0.6 months to 1.4 months of inventory.