We're No. 1 (Again)

Austin once again named best place to live by U.S. News & World Report

Paramount Theatre_100 Years_Congress Avenue Now_Centennial Announcement_2015

Austin's quality of life and affordability got it back to No. 1.

Photo by Nicole Raney

It’s that time of year again: U.S. News & World Report’s recently unveiled Best Places to Live in the USA once again placed Austin at the top of the list. Tell us something we don’t know.

For the third year in a row, Austin bested a list of 125 of the most populous metros in the country. According to U.S. News, which dropped the list on April 9, the city must “have a good value, be a desirable place to live, have a strong job market, and a high quality of life.” Value may be relative, but the other boxes — check, check, check.

The Live Music Capital of the World is also the only Texas city to make it into the top five. Denver, Colorado, took silver, and Colorado Springs took bronze, with Fayetteville, Arkansas, and Des Moines, Iowa, securing four and five, respectively. Dallas was the next Texas locale to hit the list, coming in at No. 21.

So how’d Austin get to No. 1 on the list? How does any city get on this list?

U.S. News surveyed 2,000 American residents to weigh various factors about their cities. “These factors include quality of the job market, housing affordability, if people are actually moving to the areas, net migration, [and] desirability as well,” explained U.S. News Real Estate editor Devon Thornsby, in a Tuesday podcast.

Quality of life is a huge component of the methodology. Things like high school education quality and average morning commute time factor into that category. Even with the city’s ongoing struggles with affordability and mobility, the pros still outweigh the cons for Austin residents.

Austin, with its technology boom, slew of universities, migration from other parts of Texas and the country, and general desirability, is caught in a perfect storm.

But other cities provide a good warning. “The biggest factor keeping places like New York City and Los Angeles from getting on the list is cost of living,” Thornsby said. “As a ranking that’s trying to help anyone make a decision, we have to take a realistic look at what people can afford there.”

Thornsby credits Austin’s “three-peat” win in large part to how much cheaper to live Austin still is than in Silicon Valley or New York City, where many of our transplants come from, as well as the overall culture.

“A lot of young professionals love the idea of being able to live in a part of the country that isn’t already so established with professionals,” she said.

lists reports

Real Estate Rumblings

Austin home sales skyrocket as prices finally begin to stabilize

Courtesy of Trulia

Central Texas home prices are starting to stabilize, says ABOR.

Central Texas home sales soared in April, but, shockingly, prices did not, according to a new report from Austin Board of Realtors. After a somewhat sluggish start to 2019, single-family home sales saw a massive jump in April, climbing almost 15 percent over last year in the Austin-Round Rock metro area.

In the city of Austin, sales were a little more tempered, increasing 3.6 percent over 2018 with 889 sales, according to the April 2019 Central Texas Housing Market Report. Travis County, meanwhile, increased by 8.4 percent, selling 1,449 single-family homes last month.

Surrounding counties, however, are on a massive real estate roll. Hays, Bastrop, Williamson, and Caldwell counties all saw double-digit increases from last year. Hays' single-family home sales rose 17.2 percent with 302 sales, while Bastrop saw an increase of 11.1 percent, or 90 sales.

Growth in Williamson and Caldwell was even crazier; year-over-year increases in those counties increased 22.6 percent and 83.3 percent, respectively.

Despite the growth, it appears prices are starting to stabilize, a welcome trend, considering Austin's increasing affordability issues.

"In the first quarter of the year, the median price of a single-family home in the Austin-Round Rock MSA increased by just 0.2 percent, which is a much smaller margin compared to previous years. Between 2012 and 2015, we saw price increases as high as 9 percent," Kevin P. Scanlan, 2019 president of ABOR, said in release. “These narrower margins are a strong indication that market prices are starting to stabilize.”

Indeed, prices in both the city of Austin and Travis County increased just 1.1 percent to $394,450 and $379,250, respectively. In the greater Austin-Round Rock metro area, they increased to $320,000.

The stabilization comes, says ABOR, in part due to "smaller homes on smaller lots" and buyers increasingly searching outside the city limits.

“What we are seeing along the eastern crescent, from Georgetown to Buda on the south side of State Highway 130, is quite remarkable. In the last five years, annual home starts have more than doubled in this area,” Vaike O'Grady, Austin regional director of Metrostudy, said in a release. “At the end of March this year, nearly a quarter of new homes were on lots smaller than 50 feet wide.

reports