MARKET WATCH
Austin home sellers reap 4th lowest profits in the United States
Austin home sellers are experiencing a drop in ROI.
Austin home sellers are receiving a low return on their investment. A new report from property data firm ATTOM says that locals receive the fourth lowest profit margin of large U.S. metro areas, scoring only a 32.7 percent yield.
The findings were announced in ATTOM's first quarter 2025 U.S. Home Sales Report, which revealed that profit margins are slipping nationwide. On average, American homeowners netted a 50.2 percent profit selling single-family homes and condos from January through March. The figure is down 3.2 percentage points from the last quarter of 2024 and down 4.8 percentage points from a year ago.
The 32.7 percent return on investment in Austin is an additional slip from ATTOM's 2024 end-of-year data, which reported 39.5 percent profits. The city suffered the nation's fourth sharpest decline in ROI from 2023 to 2024, dropping from 46.5 percent. New Orleans had the lowest profit margins at 18.1 percent.
Overall, Texas cities lagged behind the national average on profits, which typically land at or above 50 percent. The Texas Triangle's ROI was uniformly outlapped by the rest of the nation, with Dallas at 29.7 percent and Houston at 35 percent. San Antonio was one of the few cities listed nationwide that did worse than Austin in all the metrics listed above; its profits were 24.5 percent.
Like Austin, Dallas also experienced steep profit declines year-over-year. Dallas metro profits were down by 17.8 percent.
Still, ATTOM's number crunchers hedge that national median home values remain historically high.
"Sellers may not be enjoying quite the same windfall they were a few years ago, but by historical standards, profits are strong, both in terms of margins and raw dollar value," said ATTOM CEO Rob Barber in a news release. "The first quarter also tends to be the weakest of the year, so don't be surprised to see profits regain ground during the summer months."
