Sale prices soaring for Austin-area homes

In the first six months of 2021, the Austin Board of Realtors reported, the median price of homes in the city of Austin has increased nearly 31 percent to $530,000. Even more eye-popping, for the month of June, ABoR said the median price of homes in the city of Austin reached $575,000, an all-time record for Austin.

The group reported Thursday that the number of homes selling during the first six months of this year in Austin increased by more than 21 percent, but active listings have now declined to 7,851. In June, ABoR said, “There were 1,374 home sales, up 16.9 percent year over year, setting a record for any June on record.” The figures include single-family homes and townhomes as well as condos.

The same trend is true throughout the Austin-Round Rock metropolitan area, where the median price increased 43 percent to $482,364 – also an all-time record. At the same time, inventory was declining.

Susan Horton, 2021 ABoR president, said in a news release, “In June, and in the first six months of the year, we saw a confirmation that Austin’s housing market is one of the strongest in the nation. Our market has established its own new normal, as median prices climb while inventory remains low. With the unprecedented growth our region continues to experience, we can expect these trends to continue.”

In another sign of the heated market, ABoR reported that homes spent an average of 13 days on market in 2021 compared to 46 days for June 2020. The trend was the same in Williamson County, with the median price increasing 42.1 percent this year to $414,936. In Hays County, ABoR reported that during the January-June time period, the median price increased 27.2 percent to $355,000. And in Caldwell County, the story was much the same, as the median price rose 38.3 percent to $295,000.

Horton said, “While we’re encouraged that housing has led our region’s economic recovery, action must be taken to bring more units on-line to meet the demand for housing and address affordability. Local leaders should collaborate regionally and with their state and federal partners to think creatively to address this complex issue.”

Photo made available through a Creative Commons license.

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