The spring selling season is underway, and those looking to purchase a home in San Antonio should expect to pay a premium — regardless of price point — Zillow says.

A new study from the real estate authority shows that the annual appreciation of San Antonio-area home values at all price tiers was at least 7 percent in February 2021, with price increases fueled by consistently high demand.

The lowest tier of home values in the San Antonio metro area grew 7.9 percent year-over-year, to a typical home price of $153,904, Zillow says. The same jump was seen in the middle tier, also up 7.9 percent to $225,999. Meanwhile, home values in the top tier grew at a slightly lower rate, 7.3 percent to $366,615.

In most major U.S. metro areas, "homes in the entry-level segment of the market most likely to be sought by first-time and/or lower-income home buyers have also grown the most in value over the past year," Zillow says.

Two other Texas metros follow the national trend:

• In Dallas-Fort Worth, the annual appreciation for the lowest tier was 9.5 percent, up to $194,484, compared to 8.6 percent growth in the top tier.
• In the Houston metro area, the lowest tier saw a 9.3 percent increase, to $166,556, compared to a 7.4 percent increase for the top tier.

In Austin, however, home values in the most expensive tier grew the fastest, up 14.9 percent to $666,034. At the same time, the lowest tier of home values in the Austin metro area grew 14 percent year-over-year.

“Demand for homes in the [Texas] metros is largely uniform across price tiers," notes Zillow economist Arpita Chakravorty. "While home values in the most affordable segment are growing the fastest in Dallas and Houston, the mid- and higher-valued homes are quickly catching up due to strong demand. The spread between appreciation rates in Austin is tightening as well, indicating extreme competition across all price tiers."

Whether you're in the market right now or planning to house hunt in the future, don't expect things to slow down. Looking ahead, Zillow expects the typical home value in each of the Texas metros mentioned to grow by at least 10 percent by next February. In San Antonio, Zillow predicts an 11.1 percent jump during the year.

Have the stay-at-home orders convinced you it's time to buy a house, or upgrade to a bigger one? You're not alone — a new report from Zillow shows that San Antonio homes are flying off the market at their fastest pace in more than two years.

For the week ending June 13, it only took a median of 32 days for a San Antonio home to go from "available" to "pending." That's two fewer days than the same time last year, as well as four fewer from the same week in May. There was no change from the week before (ending June 6, 2020).

Inventory is still low thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic, with buyers in May finding themselves competing over the smallest pool of inventory on record for that month in years. But as "the new normal" begins to take hold, it seems that buyers are now eager to make up for lost time with speedy offers.

Surprisingly, San Antonio is lagging behind the rest of the country when it comes to red-hot real estate.

In mid-June, the typical home sold in the U.S. had an offer accepted 22 days after it was listed. That's as fast as homes have sold since early June 2018, when they typically sold in 21 days. Even at the slowest point of the spring — in late May — that national number only climbed to 31 days, just six days slower than late May last year.

"Buyers shopping today might expect to be welcomed by desperate sellers, but they'll instead discover houses selling like hotcakes in the speediest market in recent memory," says Zillow economist Jeff Tucker. "The market did slow down in April, but anyone shopping this summer needs to be prepared to keep up with the lightning-quick pace of sales today.

"The question is whether the tempo will slow after buyers finish playing catch-up from planned spring moves, or if this fast-paced market will stay hot thanks to continued low interest rates and buyers scrambling over record-low summer inventory."

Home sales are still moving relatively quickly around the Lone Star State, especially in Austin. Homes there are moving within 12 days a change of three days from 2019, three days from May, and one day from the previous week.

In Houston, it took a median 28 days for listings to move to pending. That's down three days from last year, down nine days from last month, and down four days from the week before.

Dallas-Fort Worth homes are only available for 28 days — one day fewer than last year, six days fewer from last month, and two days fewer than even the week ending June 6.

Homes are selling the fastest — in only five days — in Columbus, Ohio. Cincinnati, Ohio (six days); Kansas City, Missouri (six days); Seattle (seven days), and Indianapolis (seven days) are just behind. Pittsburgh has seen the most dramatic acceleration of late, with sellers typically accepting an offer 17 days sooner than at this time last year and 40 days sooner than a month ago.

The slowest market by some margin is New York, where homes are typically spending 70 days on the market before an offer is accepted, more than three weeks longer than at this time last year. Miami (55 days) and Atlanta (38 days) are the next slowest.

Zillow points out that more homes are coming onto the market — new listings are up 14 percent nationally month-over-month — showing that sellers appear to be gaining confidence in buyer demand. Inventory remains incredibly tight and sales are happening quickly, so buyers should be prepared to move fast when they find a home they're interested in.

We're coming up on the best time to list your San Antonio house, but thanks to COVID-19, the real estate landscape looks pretty different this year. Zillow reports that 3D home tours are up 408 percent from February, and newly listed homes nationwide were down 27.1 percent from a year ago in the first week of April.

But not in Alamo City. While the rest of the U.S. is seeing a 19 percent drop in new listings since March 1, 2020, San Antonio stayed exactly the same.

New listings here are actually at an even zero percent since the beginning of March, and active listings are down only 0.7 percent since the same period. Total U.S. inventory has only grown by 2.5 percent since March 1, which likely correlates to homes sitting on the market for longer, but .

"It is clear that many would-be home sellers are adopting a wait-and-see approach as uncertainty continues to rule," says Skylar Olsen, senior principal economist at Zillow. "Our understanding of U.S. economic conditions is changing weekly, if not daily, and early unemployment figures are striking, so it's understandable that some are hesitant to put their home on the market.

"It is possible that this year's busy home shopping season is pushed into winter as some opt to hang back, but activity continues from those who need to buy or sell for a job move or another major life event. What's not likely is that the bulk of potential home sellers and buyers simply throw up their hands and pull back from the market entirely."

By March 1, new listings in San Antonio were up 13 percent from the same time last year. Fast-forward just a month, and that number was down 11.8 percent. Though it doesn't sound impressive, the outlook in San Antonio is definitely brighter than what's happening nationwide where listings were up 17.3 percent on March 1 and down a significant 27.1 percent by April 5.

Elsewhere in Texas, Houston has seen a 1.9 percent increase in new listings from March to April of this year, but listings are down 8.7 percent from April 2019.

Dallas-Fort Worth's numbers are bleaker, with new listings down 18 percent in the past month, for a year-over-year decrease of 17.2 percent.

Austin is an outlier, up 12.8 percent in new listings from March 1-April 5, 2020, and still up 13.5 percent from April 2019.

The greatest slowdowns in new listings since March 1 were seen in Detroit (down 61.8 percent), Pittsburgh (down 55.5 percent), and New York (down 49.1 percent). But new listings were actually up or flat in 12 of the 35 largest U.S. metros, led by Phoenix (up 18.3 percent), Atlanta (up 15.6 percent), Sacramento (up 13.7 percent), and Minneapolis-St. Paul (up 13.7 percent).

It seems Texas' lack of a real winter has a ripple effect that extends far beyond agriculture. Spring has been declared the ideal time to list your home in San Antonio, with homes hitting the market at the end of May fetching $1,500 more.

That's according to a recent study from Zillow, which analyzed the history and outcome of millions of home listings over the last several years.

Early May is almost as profitable in Alamo City, but as soon as the calendar hits early August the numbers start falling. Seems the extreme heat of Texas summers is nearly as bad as possible ice in the winter, with sellers taking a sizable cut from early September through January.

If you want to get the most eyeballs on your listing when it first debuts, make it live on a Saturday. Sunday is close behind, but posting on a Tuesday means a sharp downtick in views.

Buyer interest also fades quickly, Zillow confirms, with traffic for new listings dramatically falling after only seven days. In the first week, homes in San Antonio are 41 percent likely to sell at or above list price. By week 12, the number drops to only 14 percent.

The stats are slightly different elsewhere around Texas, with Dallas-Fort Worth seeing Sundays in early June as the best time to list. Early birds get the worm in Houston and Austin, where early May is the key list time.

But the rest of the nation is even earlier, with homes listed for sale anytime in April selling one full week faster than average.