small town life

3 Austin neighbors are the best Texas suburbs for house renters

Hutto is the No. 3 best suburb for house renters in Texas.

For single-family home renters, finding the right suburb to live in around Austin can be a complicated process. But three distinct Austin neighbors have come out among the top 10 best best suburbs for house renters in Texas: Hutto, Lakeway, and Leander.

This crowning achievement was awarded in online real estate marketplace Point2Homes' new study, "Top Texas Suburbs for House Renters." The report compared suburbs within a 20-mile radius (or 30-mile driving distance) from Texas' five largest cities — San Antonio, Austin, Houston, Dallas, and Fort Worth — based on 12 metrics, including a suburb's cost of living, share of single-family rental listings, five-year renter income growth, and more.

Hutto ranked as the No. 3 best suburb for house renters in Texas, while Lakeway and Leander ranked No. 5 and No. 6, respectively.

Bulverde, a small town 22 miles outside San Antonio, was declared the No. 1 best suburb for house renters statewide. Two Houston suburbs — Iowa Colony (No. 2) and West University Place (No. 4) — round out the top five.

Point2Homes touted Hutto, located 22 miles northeast of Austin, as a suburban paradise full of "serenity and city convenience." The 2020 Census calculated the city had an estimated population of nearly 27,600 residents, and Hutto Economic Development said two out of five Hutto residents are under the age of 30.

Out of the suburb's entire renter population, the report found 92 percent of renters are residing in single-family homes, and there are 94 single-family home listings available to rent per 1,000 renter households.

The median household income for single-family home renters is $105,354, the report said, which has grown nearly 66 percent over the last five years, while the population simultaneously ballooned 30.3 percent.

Other factors that contributed to Hutto's No. 3 ranking were its residents' average commute time (28.8 minutes) and the share of the population aged 25 and older who have "higher education" degrees (32.2 percent). But the study latches onto one unorthodox benefit of living in Hutto.

"Hutto’s historic downtown is adorned with century-old buildings and charming boutiques, all framed by ... hippos," the report's author wrote. "Estimates suggest there are between 5,000 and 10,000 concrete hippos scattered around town ... and there’s even an interactive Hippo Map Tour tracking them all."

Residents also benefit from living in a quiet, close-knit community that has many outdoor recreational activities for families.

"As Hutto grows, so does its green space, with 150 acres of public parks and counting," the report said.

Other top Austin suburbs for house renters in 2024
Situated 25 miles northwest of Austin, the suburb of Lakeway boasts an estimated population of more than 19,000 residents as of the 2020 Census, a figure that has grown 33.1 percent over the last five years. A majority of the city's population aged 25 and older (72 percent) have higher education degrees.

The median household income of single-family renters in Lakeway is $79,904, and the city's income level has grown less than 2 percent in the last five years. Less than half of all renters in Lakeway (48.2 percent) are single-family home renters.

There are 44 single-family rental listings on the market per 1,000 renter households in Lakeway, and the study said the median number of rooms in a rental home comes out to 5.5.

Here's how Point2Homes broke down Lakeway's ranking in the remaining metrics in the study:

+104.9 percent – Cost of living compared to state median
16.2 percent – Share of renters out of the entire population
1,464 – Population density
27.1 minutes – Average commute time
2.8 percent – Unemployment rate

126 Lakeway Austin home The study said the median number of rooms for a rental home in Lakeway is 5.5. Photo courtesy of Spaces and Faces Photography

According to the City of Lakeway website, the suburb had a humble beginning as a retirement and second-home community before being transformed into a highly sought after destination for Austinites who want to get away from the hustle and bustle of the city.

"Now, families are drawn to the 'lake lifestyle,' the city’s award-winning parks and recreation programs and facilities, and Lake Travis ISD’s renowned schools," the website says. "Active empty-nesters and young professionals are attracted to the city’s natural beauty, proximity to Austin and endless recreational activities including tennis, golf, hiking, biking, picnicking and camping, fishing, boating, swimming, and scuba diving."

The third Austin suburb to earn a top 10 rank was Leander, which is also known as one of the most livable small cities in America. A single-family renter household in the city has a median income of $71,228, which has grown about 30 percent over five years. However, it's not cheap to live in Leander, as the cost of living is 44 percent higher than the state median cost of living, the report said.

This is how Leander stacked up in the report's remaining metrics:

51.6 percent – Share of single-family renters
109.2 – Single-family rental listings per 1,000 renter households
4.9 – Median number of rooms in a rental home
23.6 percent – Share of renters out of the entire population
54.9 percent – Five-year population change
1,615 – Population density
29.5 minutes – Average commute time

Leander Texas Leander residents are really livin' it up these days. The City of Leander, Texas/Facebook

Surprisingly, major Austin suburbs like Round Rock (No. 31), Pflugerville (No. 34), and Cedar Park (No. 56) all appeared farther down the list of top markets for single-family home renters in Texas. In July 2024, Round Rock was ranked one of the best cities for renters in a separate report by SmartAsset. Cedar Park, on the other hand, was dubbed one of America's safest suburbs earlier this year.

Other Austin-area suburbs that earned spots among the top 100 best Texas suburbs for single-family home renters include:

No. 11 – Elgin
No. 14 – Hornsby Bend
No. 15 – Manor
No. 17 – Brushy Creek
No. 18 – Dripping Springs
No. 22 – Buda
No. 26 – Bee Cave
No. 38 – Kyle
No. 43 – Bastrop
No. 45 – Lockhart
No. 51 – Georgetown

The full report and its methodology can be found on point2homes.com.

suburbs quality of life nature renting hutto austin leander lakeway

real estate report

How Austin fits into Zillow's predicted housing market growth in 2025

Photo by Justin Wallace on Unsplash

Potential homebuyers in Austin may see improving mortgage rates and home prices in 2025, according to Zillow.

It looks like a few more people are about to turn their online home shopping daydreams into reality in 2025. Zillow, the famous real estate listings website, says in a press release that next year will likely bring "a gradual but bumpy decline in rates, impacting sales and price growth."

It attributes the forecast to "erratic and dramatic mortgage rate movements" throughout 2024, which will continue to affect the market. The website's housing market predictions report estimates that 2025 will see about 100,000 more sales than 2024, that home value growth will be "low and slow" at 2.2 percent, and that inventory and new listings will continue recovering from pandemic weakness.

On a local scale, Zillow's latest data shows Austin has already experienced a 3.4 percent drop in annual average home values from 2023 to 2024, which will continue fluctuating in 2025.

As of November, Zillow's home value index says the average home in the Austin metro is worth $443,995. That figure is greater than the Austin Board of Realtors' median home sales price in Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos, which came out to $435,000 last month, reflecting an estimated 2.4 percent increase for just the month of November year-over-year from 2023.

Pick the right season to buy
Potential buyers may see better opportunities for purchasing a home during the fall and winter, which is a typically slow season for home sales. Across 36 out of the 50 biggest U.S. metro areas, Zillow's heat market index showed a drop in competition from October to November.

"There's a strong sense of déjà vu on tap for 2025. We are once again expecting mortgage rates to get better gradually, and opportunities for buyers should follow, but be prepared for plenty of bumps on that path," said Zillow chief economist Skylar Olsen in the release. "Those shopping this winter have plenty of time to choose and a relatively strong position in negotiations."

Zillow suggests buyers may have the ability to negotiate "from a position of safety" during the slow winter months. This is especially true for Austin-area buyers, who only saw 10.4 percent of homes sell for more than their listing price in October. The website says buyers can take advantage of opportunities to buy contingent on inspections or repairs, and they may avoid bidding wars during this time.

"While the number of options available to shoppers today are lower than they will likely see in the spring, there's also less competition in the field," the report says. "The [national] share of homes that sold for more than list price was below 28 percent in October (the latest data available), continuing a downward trend that began in July."

Buyers will head to the Southwest
Eyes are also turning to the American Southwest as the top region for homebuyers in 2025, as 13 major metro areas – including Austin and San Antonio – are now considered “buyer’s markets” where buyers have more negotiating power than sellers.

However, this prediction depends on the gravity of falling mortgage rates. Homebuyers should also keep a close eye on mortgage rates in 2025, which could drop unpredictably like they have been for the last three weeks in a row. If the rates dip further than expected, that doesn’t bode as well for buyers.

“It is anticipated that a significant mortgage rate dip would bring more buyers than sellers back to the market, increasing competition and tilting negotiating power in favor of sellers,” Zillow says.

Small-home living is gaining traction
As Austin and other major cities are battling for more high density housing, buying trends are also leaning towards smaller (and more affordable) homes.

Zillow even goes as far to say that the “pandemic-era need” for large houses is officially a thing of the past.

"The term 'cozy' is appearing in more listing descriptions — 35 percent more in 2024 compared to 2023 — reflecting current design trends that have shifted away from cavernous open floor plans, toward contained spaces that have their own style and purpose," the report says.

housing market zillow