Despite a year-over-year increase in new listings recorded in April, the Austin-area housing market continues to grow more competitive as listings spend less time on the market even as home values increase, according to the latest Central Texas Housing Market Report from the Austin Board of Realtors.

"In the Austin-Round Rock MSA, price classes across the board are seeing an increase in demand with a decrease in inventory," said ABOR President Steve Crorey in a May 15 news release.

Within the Austin-Round Rock MSA in April, new listings increased 5.6 year-over-year while active listings decreased 2.8 percent and pending sales rose 14.3 period in the same time period.

"While new listings are up year-over-year, homes are selling faster than they can be listed on the market," Crorey said. "This has led to a smaller number of active listings and increasingly competitive market for homebuyers."

The median price of single-family homes in the Austin-Round Rock MSA increased 3.8 percent, to $316,000, from April 2017 to April 2018. Housing inventory decreased 0.2 months during that same period, to 2.4 months of inventory.

A result of these trends, according to Mark Sprague of Independence Title, is that more locals are moving to the suburbs.

There remains a high demand for single-family homes within the city of Austin, however.

Single-family homes priced between $150,000 and $250,000 spent, on average, between 20 and 33 days on the market in Central Austin in April 2018, according to the ABOR report. This indicates a high demand for homes in this category as well as declining inventory.

"If it's a desirable home or located near a desirable location, especially if it's in the city of Austin, the time spent on the market can be much lower," Sprague said.

For entry-level homebuyers, a home is affordable if it costs $200,000 or less, according to the Real Estate Center at Texas A&M University.

A recent article by Community Impact Newspaper found that in Austin proper just 12 percent of homes built in 2017 were affordable for the area's median-earning household.

According to the ABOR report, the median price for single-family home sales in Central Austin increased 9.3 percent year-over-year in April 2018 to $390,000.