It’s a benchmark that is sure to make many homebuyers cringe: The median sale price of a home in the Austin area officially sits just $5 short of $500,000.

In a report released Tuesday, March 15, the Austin Board of Realtors divulged that the metro area’s median home price in February jumped to an all-time high of $499,995. That’s 27.9 percent above the median price ($391,000) in February 2021 and 5 percent above the median price ($476,000) in January 2022.

“February was a very active month for our housing market as sales price records continue to be broken,” Cord Shiflet, 2022 president of ABoR, says in a news release. “We’re hearing from economists that last month’s numbers are a potential harbinger of a big year ahead, even as our market continues to deal with insufficient supply compared to demand, resulting in the steady cycle of home price increases.”

What follows is a breakdown of last month’s median home prices throughout the metro area.

City of Austin
The median sale price of a home within the city limits rose to $565,000, a record for the month of February. This was 15.1 percent above February 2021 ($491,000) and 2.7 percent above the previous month ($550,000).

Travis County
The median price of a home in Travis County increased to $541,050. That’s 15.1 percent higher than it was in February 2021 ($470,000) and 2.1 percent higher than was it was the previous month ($530,000).

Williamson County
Williamson County recorded a median home price of $479,000 in February, up 32.7 percent from the same time a year earlier ($361,000) and up 4.1 percent from this January ($460,000).

Hays County
The median price of a home in Hays County soared to $427,350 in February, up 42.5 percent from the same time a year earlier ($300,000) and up 9.9 percent from the previous month ($389,000).

Bastrop County
In just one year, the median home price of a home in Bastrop County shot up by 61.4 percent. The median price this February stood at $443,835 compared with $274,946 in February 2021. The price in January 2022 was $398,000 — 11.5 percent below where it was a month earlier.

Caldwell County
Caldwell County remains the most affordable homebuying market in the five-county metro area. The median home price last month was $314,695, up 57.4 percent from February 2021 ($199,900) but down less than 1 percent from January 2022 ($315,000).