Real Estate Report
Austin housing market stabilizes, with metro median home price below $475,000
Good news for prospective Austin-area homebuyers: local home prices are stabilizing.
The latest monthly report from ABoR, which includes sales data from October 2022, reinforces that "median home prices across the MSA [continue] their recent trend of more stable and sustainable appreciation."
In October 2022, the Austin-Round Rock metro area's median price clocked in at $474,900, which, while a record for the month of October, is up only 4 percent year-over-year. In September 2022, the metro's median home price registered at $470,000, up 5.6 percent from the previous year. The current metro median is down significantly from figures seen earlier this year — it sat at $550,000 in April.
At the city level, Austin's median price grew to $550,000 last month, also a record for October, but only a 3.8 percent increase year-over-year. Travis County's median price sat just below, at $544,950, up 5.8 percent from a year ago.
As home price growth slows, returning to a normal pace, the Austin market is also benefitting from increased housing inventory. ABoR notes that in October, the metro boasted 3.2 months of inventory, an impressive jump from last October, when the it had only one month of inventory, and a slight increase from September 2022, when inventory was at 3.1 months.
Last month, homes spent an average of 47 days on the market, up a significant 26 days from last October.
“Austin’s housing market is still growing, just at a different pace,” Cord Shiflet, ABoR president, says in a release. “We’re entering the time of year that is historically a quieter time for home sales. With more available inventory than our area has seen in a decade and price growth stabilizing, buyers have more options today than ever before.”
Jim Gaines, economist at the Texas Real Estate Research Center, says the local market stabilization was to be expected, and mirrors a nationwide trend.
“The 2021 housing market numbers we saw were an anomaly compared to previous years, so anything different from those numbers can appear significant," he says. "Homes that are coming on the market are not staying active for long, but they are also not flying off the shelves or going into a bidding war like they used to. That previous, hectic pace of home sales has stopped.”
“The desire to live in Central Texas remains high compared to other metropolitan areas in the state," Gaines continues. "The continued creation of jobs and influx of people moving to Austin coupled with companies relocating to the region place Austin in a unique position to weather any potential downturn.”
