homebuyer power play

Austin declared one of the top 10 buyer's markets in U.S. right now

Austin's housing market has become saturated with sellers.

The tide has turned for the Austin housing market, and buyers now have more power than ever to negotiate on their forever home, a new real estate report has confirmed.

Austin has now become one of the top 10 strongest buyer's markets in the nation with sellers outnumbering buyers by about 115 percent, Redfin's newest market trends report found.

Nationally, sellers outnumbered buyers by 58 percent in August 2026, which Redfin says is the largest gap on record. Out of the 49 most populous metros in the U.S., only five are considered seller's markets, and eight are considered "balanced" markets where the number of buyers and sellers are nearly equal.

That leaves the remaining 36 most populated U.S. metros as buyer's markets, which includes the biggest cities in the Lone Star State. In fact, four Texas cities rank among the 10 strongest buyer's markets in the country right now: Houston (No. 3), San Antonio (No. 6), Austin (No. 7), and Dallas (No. 8).

There were 17,972 sellers on the market in Austin last month, more than double the amount of buyers (8,360). The market's tilt in favor of house hunters allows more legroom to be picky with the increased supply of available housing, while falling demand indicates less competition with other buyers.

"In most markets, buyers should negotiate on price and ask for concessions like repairs or help with closing costs," said Redfin senior economist Asad Khan. "Buyers shouldn’t assume every seller will budge, especially on a desirable home that’s already priced well, but they don’t need to rush into a deal that doesn’t feel right."

For sellers that want to stand out in a saturated market, Redfin suggests they should price their homes competitively and be prepared to negotiate.

A separate Redfin report hinted that the end of August was the best time for Austinites to buy a home, but other experts say patient shoppers have until early October to take the plunge. But regardless of the timeline, the report warns that the recent surge of available housing is only beneficial for homebuyers that can afford it.

"High housing costs and widespread economic uncertainty have caused many would-be buyers to back off in recent years, creating the imbalance of buyers and sellers we see today," the report said.

The median price of an Austin home came out to $413,543 in August, though 82 percent of all home sales in the city sold for below their original asking price.

The top 10 strongest buyer's markets in the U.S. are:

No. 1 – Nashville, Tennessee
No. 2 – Miami, Florida
No. 3 – Houston, Texas
No. 4 – Orlando, Florida
No. 5 – Las Vegas, Nevada
No. 6 – San Antonio, Texas
No. 7 – Austin, Texas
No. 8 – Dallas, Texas
No. 9 – Atlanta, Georgia
No. 10 – Phoenix, Arizona

real estate housing market real estate report housing

renter report

Austin home to No. 1 biggest drop in rent prices in the U.S. this year

Photo by Eugenia Pan'kiv on Unsplash

Austin topped the list with the biggest year-over-year decline in rent prices nationwide.

A 2026 Zumper rent report has revealed that Texas is leading the nation in annual rent declines since 2025. In August, Austin rent prices fell as much as 19 percent since the the same month a year before.

Zumper's monthly report analyzes one- and two-bedroom rent prices from the previous month across 100 U.S. cities, and tracks one-month and year-over-year changes.

Austin, Houston, and Dallas, respectively, locked out the top three cities where one-bedroom rent prices have plummeted more than anywhere else in the country.

A one-bedroom apartment in Austin had a $1,260 monthly rent price in August, down 16.6 percent since the same time last year. Two-bedroom units were 19.1 percent cheaper than they were a year ago and in 2026 sat at $1,610 per month.

The reports findings show a similar pattern across Texas' biggest metros as "elevated multifamily supply" was "absorbed through the boom years." Renters currently have the advantageous opportunity to negotiate lower rent from their landlords, according to Zumper CEO Shawn Mullahy.

"Texas is showing exactly what happens when supply materially outruns demand," Mullahy said. "Austin, Houston and Dallas added enormous amounts of inventory, and renters now have leverage because owners are competing to fill it. That won’t reverse until enough of that supply is absorbed."

For comparison, Zumper's National Rent Index for August 2026 found the median one-bedroom rent fell 0.1 percent year-over-year to $1,515, while two-bedroom rent increased 0.5 percent to $1,907.

Rent prices across Texas
Houston had the second-steepest decline in both one- and two-bedroom rent prices in August. Rent for a single-bedroom unit dipped 14.6 percent year-over-year to $1,050, and the price for a two-bedroom unit fell 5.4 percent to $1,400.

A one-bedroom unit in Dallas, meanwhile, had a $1,270 monthly price, down 13 percent from August 2025. Rent for a two-bedroom unit declined by 13.4 percent to $1,810 per month.

Elsewhere in the North Texas region, rent prices for a one-bedroom unit in Plano have dipped 7.1 percent since last year to $1,310. Single-bedroom units in Irving are renting for $1,210 a month, or 4.7 percent lower than they were the year before.

Across town in Fort Worth and Arlington, one-bedroom units had a monthly asking price of $1,160 and $1,080 in August. Arlington's one-bedroom rent price is unchanged from 2025, and Fort Worth's is down 3.3 percent.

This is how much it cost for a two-bedroom unit across DFW in August, compared to the previous year:

Plano: $1,920 per month, down 3.5 percent
Irving: $1,620 per month, down 4.7 percent
Fort Worth: $1,530 per month, down 5.5 percent
Arlington: $1,460 per month, down 2.8 percent

In San Antonio, single-bedroom rent prices fell 8.6 percent to $960 per month, and two-bedroom rent declined by 4.5 percent to $1,260.

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