Hyde Park Heats Up

This popular Austin neighborhood ranks among the 5 hottest in America

Historic Hyde Park Homes Tour 2015 Avenue A folk victorian cottage house

Hyde Park is the fourth hottest neighborhood in America, and we can see why.

Photo by Rice Jackson Photography

Home sales in Austin's beloved Hyde Park are sizzling so much that Redfin just ranked the neighborhood the fourth hottest in America.

An annual report from the real estate brokerage firm projects homes sales trends for the coming year based on a range of statistics and feedback from local agents, and Hyde Park is on track for stellar sales in 2016. Hyde Park joins other U.S. 'hoods that are "still affordable, but also offer the stores, coffee shops, and short rides to downtown that make communities livable."

The median cost of a Hyde Park home is $449,000, and 98.9 percent sell at listing price. On top of that, these houses sell in a flash, spending a median 29 days on the market.

"Hyde Park is a quiet, tree-lined neighborhood with a mix of modern and classic Craftsman homes that suit many types of buyers," says local real estate agent Andrew Vallejo. "It has always been a popular neighborhood, but it has become even more competitive over the last few years due to the revitalization of the surrounding area."

Vallejo points to Highland Mall's evolution into the new Austin Community College campus, which is drawing in restaurants and retail. "Hyde Park residents are a short distance from the action and still have the benefit of their subdued neighborhood to come home to," explained Vallejo.

The nearby North Loop and Wooten neighborhoods are the second and third hottest 'hoods in Austin, says Redfin. North Loop homes have a median home price of $349,500. Wooten is the most affordable of the three: Homes in the North Austin neighborhood have a median price of $308,800.

Hyde Park is the only Texas neighborhood to hit the top 10 on Redfin's list. Leading the hottest neighborhoods in the nation are Ukrainian Village in Chicago (No. 1), Eastwood in Nashville (No. 2), and Ericsson in Minneapolis (No. 3).

No Cap

Austin was a top destination for Gen Zers on the move for 2023

Photo by Neel Pramanik on Unsplash

Who wouldn't want to live in a Gen Z hotspot like Austin?

As Gen Z enters adulthood, many are flocking to the nation's biggest cultural hubs like New York City, Los Angeles, and now Austin, which had the one of the top 20 highest inflows of Gen Zers in 2023.

Austin's reputation as a Gen Z hot spot was unveiled in a recent report by American home improvement brand This Old House, which analyzed migration trends across multiple generations using 2023 U.S. Census Bureau data.

Austin saw an influx of 10,363 Gen Z residents last year to become the generation's No. 20 most popular city.

The city first gained traction as an up-and-coming destination for Gen Zers last year, when the "experience-hungry generation" was on the hunt for an affordable place to live with vast opportunities for entertainment, education, or employment.

Real estate marketplace Zillow seems to agree with this trend on a statewide scale; in February it declared Texas the No. 1 destination for Gen Zers on the move in 2024.

However, as Gen Z Austinites may have learned, it might take a big bite out of their paychecks to live in such a highly sought-after city. A March RentCafe housing cost analysis predicted Gen Z adults living in Austin are likely to spend more than $160,000 on rent by the time they are 30 years old.

While Austin saw big gains in its Gen Z population last year, many other big cities saw a mass exodus. Plano, for example — which gained 1,295 Gen Z residents in 2022 — lost 4,028 Gen Zers in 2023, the report discovered.

"The biggest Gen-Z exodus was in El Paso, with a drop of 5,607 — a sharp turn from 2022 when the city saw an increase," the report said. "Other cities, including Plano, Texas; Memphis, Tennessee; McKinney, Texas; and Wichita, Kansas, are seeing similar declines."

The report also revealed that Austin is also one of the top destinations for millennials and Gen X, whereas both New York City and Los Angeles lost more residents among those two generations in comparison.

Austin had a net gain of 2,478 millennials in 2023, but saw net losses in its Gen X (3,240), baby boomer (1,178), and silent generation (1,390) populations.

"Gen X, baby boomers, and the Silent Generation are also moving away from major cities, particularly New York City and Washington, D.C.," the report said. "They’re heading to some of the same cities as Gen Z, including Houston and Jacksonville, Florida."

The top 10 cities that gained the most Gen Z residents in 2023 are:

No. 1 – New York City, New York
No. 2 – Los Angeles, California
No. 3 – Houston, Texas
No. 4 – Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
No. 5 – Chicago, Illinois
No. 6 – San Diego, California
No. 7 – Seattle, Washington
No. 8 – Charlotte, North Carolina
No. 9 – Dallas, Texas
No. 10 – Minneapolis, Minnesota

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