The roofs are on fire

Red-hot Austin takes title as No. 2 housing market in the U.S., report says

Austin homes are flying off the market.

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At least by one measure, the Austin-area housing market is 100-degrees-in-the-summer hot.

A study released August 24 by personal finance website WalletHub ranks Austin among the 10 most attractive real estate markets in the U.S.

To determine the most attractive real estate markets, WalletHub compared 300 cities across 18 key metrics. The data ranges from appreciation of median home price to job growth.

With an overall rank of No. 2 on WalletHub’s Best Places to Buy a House list, Austin also lands in the No. 1 spot in terms of large cities with hot real estate markets.

This may seem counterintuitive to Austinites who have witnessed the meteoric rise home prices in the past decade, but the city’s culture, climate, and industry continue to drive homebuyers to Austin.

According to the latest housing market figures for Austin, though the number of home sales dipped 9.9 percent in July versus the same time last year in the metro area, the median home sale price jumped 37.1 percent year over year to $480,000, a record high for the month of July, says the Austin Board of Realtors. Partially responsible is the Austin area’s dwindling housing inventory.

“2021 has represented a year of strengths in many financial areas. The stock market and bank account balances are up, while unemployment and interest rates are low. These factors represent ideal conditions for the housing market, and as long as we continue to see shortages in housing inventory, we should still see an ideal environment for housing growth,” Job Hammond, secretary-treasurer of ABoR and an adjunct professor at Austin Community College, tells WalletHub.

While Austin’s real estate market is certainly hot, it’s not the best place to purchase a home in the U.S. According to WalletHub, that honor goes to Frisco, in the Dallas area, which grabs the No. 1 spot.

Its placement atop the WalletHub ranking stems in large part from its eye-popping population growth. It was the fastest-growing large U.S. city from 2010 to 2019, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. And today, Frisco’s population exceeds 208,000, and it remains one of the most active cities in DFW in terms of home construction.

Other Texas markets to rank in the top 10 on the WalletHub list include McKinney at No. 4, Denton at No. 5, and Allen at No. 6.

Here are the 10 most attractive real estate markets in the country, as judged by WalletHub:

Frisco
Austin
Gilbert, Arizona
McKinney
Denton
Allen
Durham, North Carolina
Reno, Nevada
Roseville, California
Nashville, Tennessee

rankings lists

local real estate report

Homebuyers can afford to be picky as Austin housing inventory rises

Photo by Avinash Kumar on Unsplash

Housing economist Clare Losey said the most significant factor affecting home sales in Austin is high mortgage rates.

The latest real estate report from Unlock MLS and the Austin Board of Realtors (ABoR) has revealed housing inventory is still on a steady rise in the Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos MSA, creating more choices for potential homebuyers as they navigate a high interest rate market.

Residential home sales dipped by a mere 1.5 percent year-over-year from October 2023, amounting to 2,248 closed sales in the Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos MSA. Median prices have also dropped to $430,000, or 3.2 percent less than this time last year. More than 3,300 new home listings were added on the market — a 7.4 percent increase from 2023 — bringing the total number of active home listings to 11,599.

According to Unlock MLS and ABoR housing economist Clare Losey, Ph.D., October's mortgage rates stood at 6.4 percent and are showing no signs of a significant drop in the near future. Even heading into 2025, Losey says potential homebuyers who are biding their time in the hopes of seeing rates plummet "may be in for a long wait."

"In the meantime, sellers must recognize that bringing buyers to the table requires a more aggressive pricing approach," Losey said. "Even in a more balanced market, buyers with limited purchasing power are struggling to meet current price expectations."

As for the overall health of the Central Texas housing market, 2024 Unlock MLS and ABoR president Kent Redding labeled recent news reports that called Austin "ground zero" for a downturn as an "extreme over-exaggeration."

"Austin led the state and nation in record-breaking home price growth and sales activity during the pandemic," Redding said. "For three years, near-zero housing inventory, numerous offers above list price and a rapid-paced market raised home prices and left little negotiating power for buyers. During this record-setting growth, ABoR and Unlock MLS consistently emphasized the unsustainability of the rapid growth, and now, our market is working to balance those extremes."

Central Texas housing trends in October 2024

In Travis County, 979 homes were sold last month — a slight 2.5 percent increase from last year. Median prices remained flat year-over-year at $510,000. Active home listings continued growing to 5,702 homes, which is 9.4 percent more year-over-year.

In Williamson County, 807 homes were sold in October, with median prices steadily dropping to $420,000. There were 1,028 new home listings on the market, showing a 4.5 percent increase from October 2023, bringing the total number of active home listings to 3,369.

Residential home sales dropped by nearly eight percent in Hays County in October, totaling 315 sales. Median prices also fell 5.5 percent year-over-year to $359,000. Active listings rose 6.6 percent year-over-year to 1,740 homes with the addition of 534 new listings on the market.

Meanwhile, 114 homes were sold in Bastrop County last month, which is 4.4 percent more than this time last year. Median prices dropped by a single percentage point year-over-year to $355,000. There were 654 active listings on the market in October, and 152 new home listings, representing a 1.3 percent slip in new inventory when compared to last year.

Only 33 homes were sold in Caldwell County in October to reflect a near 14 percent decline year-over-year from October 2023. Median prices fell to $262,990, which was a 13.5 percent decrease from last year. There were 136 active homes on the market last month, and 40 new homes added on the market.

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