Sticker shock
New real estate report reveals jaw-dropping increase in Austin home prices
A new report from real estate brokerage Redfin offers a stunning picture of just how crazy the Austin housing market has become.
The report, released May 19, shows that among the country’s 85 largest metro areas, Austin recorded the biggest year-over-year rise in April for median home-sale prices — a jaw-dropping 42.3 percent. In second place were Oxnard, California, and Miami, each at 25.8 percent.
“Austin’s housing market has been booming for several years now, and [Austin] has really become one of the major destinations for migration from high-earning individuals across the nation,” Daryl Fairweather, chief economist at Redfin, tells CultureMap.
“Many of our recent reports have shown that people are moving to Austin from major metropolitan areas like New York and the Bay Area, and relocating to states like Texas that offer lower taxes, lower housing prices, and more space for them and their families,” Fairweather adds. “This migration trend has caused many locals to be priced out and newcomers to have to deal with competitive bidding wars — often driving prices up even more.”
Elsewhere in Texas, Dallas saw a 19.9 percent year-over-year jump in median home-sale prices last month, with Houston at 16.8 percent, San Antonio at 14.6 percent, and Fort Worth at 14.3 percent, according to Redfin.
A further testament to Austin’s wild housing market: 73.7 percent of homes in the region sold above list price last month, Redfin says. Only Oakland and San Jose, California, and Tacoma, Washington, registered higher numbers in that category.
Here are April’s above-list-price figures for the other major metro markets in Texas:
- Fort Worth, 52.8 percent.
- San Antonio, 47.4 percent.
- Dallas, 38.2 percent.
- Houston, 28.6 percent.