The median price of a home in the Austin area set a record high last year, inching closer to the $500,000 mark.

The Austin Board of Realtors reported January 18 that the median price of a home in the Austin-Round Rock metro area hit $450,000 in 2021, climbing 30.8 percent above the median price in 2020.

Meanwhile, the region shattered another record in 2021, with 41,316 homes sold, up 2.5 percent from the previous year, marking the most homes ever sold in the region. The dollar volume, meanwhile, rose 32.6 percent to nearly $23.38 billion.

For the month of December, the median sale price in the area reached $476,700, up 30.6 percent from a year earlier. The median price in November 2021 was $470,000.

“In 2021, we lived through the most exciting, complicated, fast-paced, and record-setting housing market in Austin’s history,” Cord Shiflet, 2022 president of ABoR, says in a news release.

“With all the new jobs across the region from exciting companies like Tesla and Samsung, Austin was put on the world’s stage and captured the hearts and attention of so many,” Shiflet adds. “We are lucky to call Austin our home when it has so much to offer, from a great quality of life to a wonderful destination for innovation and opportunity.”

Mark Sprague, state director of information capital at Independence Title, notes that home prices in the Austin area continue to increase because supply still hasn’t caught up with demand.

“In 2021, the record number of homes sold were demand-driven transactions, and that demand was influenced greatly by companies continuing to target the region for job creation and expansion,” Sprague says.

He envisions a lack of inventory and the ongoing supply-chain struggles could lead to a 5 percent to 7 percent decline in home sales this year. That being said, home values are expected to continue going up.

Here’s a rundown of home prices throughout the region.

City of Austin
Last year, the median sale price for homes rose 27.7 percent to $536,331. In December, the median price climbed 19.4 percent from the previous year to $555,000. That was a record high for the month of December. In November, the median price stood at $540,000.

Travis County
In 2021, the median home price in Travis County jumped 28.4 percent compared with the previous year, to $520,000. In December, the median price rose to $545,000, up from $529,500 a month earlier. From December 2020 to December 2021, the price crept up by 25.4 percent.

Williamson County
From 2020 to 2021, the median home price in Williamson County jumped 38.8 percent to $425,680. In December, the median price increased 38.5 percent to $450,000 compared with the previous December. In November 2021, the median price was $445,000.

Hays County
From 2020 to 2021, the median home price in Hays County climbed 25.4 percent to $370,000. In December, the median price rose 29.5 percent from a year earlier, winding up at $395,070. In November 2021, the median price was $390,000.

Bastrop County
Bastrop County saw the median home price go up 22.8 percent from 2020 to 2021, ending up at $323,000. In December, the median price shot up 42.6 percent to $385,000 compared with the previous December. The median price in November 2021 was $345,000.

Caldwell County
Last year in Caldwell County, the median home price jumped 26.5 percent compared with 2020, landing at $268,400. The median price in December soared 39 percent to $294,850 compared with the previous December. In November 2021, the median price stood at $265,109.