Huntsville, AL Housing Market Report | January 2023

For the January housing market report, the Huntsville, Alabama real estate market is staying balanced as supply and demand continue to mirror each other. New listings, pending sales, and house affordability are trending back up but they're still down year over year. If you’re looking to buy or sell a home in Huntsville, AL, this information can help you make the best decision based on your situation as the 2023 housing market starts to take shape.

New Listings & Closed Sales

Supply and demand are continuing to stay balanced, which is why we're seeing prices stay flat. For prices to drop, you've got to see an imbalance between supply and demand. We're simply not seeing that as demand continues to track the supply of new listings that comes out.

For example, new listings were down 9.1% year over year, but pending sales were also down 9.2%.  In December, supply and demand were also mirroring each other again, they were down 27% for new listings and 30.4% for pending sales. The lagging indicator, closed sales, was down 30.6% which was just a function of fewer listings over the previous year.

Days on Market & Supply

Days on market and supply continue to increase, which is a good thing for buyers as they have more time to make a decision to purchase versus being rushed like they have been for the last couple of years with multiple offers and homes selling within hours.

The numbers are a little bit misleading. Days on market is up 89.5% year over year, but it's only from 19 days to 36 days. This is an eight-day jump from December, which saw a supply of 28 days. There’s still a low supply in this marketplace.

Months supply worth of inventory is up to 2.4 months, which is still a low number. What you're looking for to have a balanced market is between 4 to 6 months. Overall inventory actually dropped 400 units since November so it's not getting better.

Housing Affordability

We do have some good news for housing affordability. Housing affordability jumped to a score of 100 for only the second time since last May due to the recent interest rate drops. The reason that's important is a score of 100 means that the median income in our area can now afford the median sales price home in our area. That's a good sign as it shows that our homes are getting more affordable. We also had a great score for townhomes and condos at 143. So expect to see more townhomes and condos built over the next year.

The bad news, however, is that housing affordability has dropped 25.9% year over year from a score of 135 to 100. Unfortunately, expect affordability to take another short-term dip as interest rates are starting to rise once again.

Percent of List Price Received & Average Sales Price

Another good sign for buyers is the percent of list price received has dropped two points. Last year were basically at full price at 99.9%, but this year we’re down to 97.9% which is up slightly from the previous month of 97.8%. Any number that’s close to 97% is a good thing because that's more of a balanced market for buyers and it also gives them a little bit of negotiation room to get closing costs paid for and other negotiable items to help them get into their new home.

The average sales price is still above your typical 3% to 5% appreciation rate. However, it is getting a little bit more normalized coming in at 8.7% year over year at $328,113.

The Huntsville, Alabama market is still undersupplied with listings on the market, if you're thinking about selling your home this spring or buying a home, send us an email at moving@mattcurtisrealestate.com or contact us here and we'll provide you with five-star service.

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