The Austin-Round Rock metro area was expected to be in for a record year in housing market sales, but there has been a 5.8% drop in total home sales in January compared to January 2021, according to the Central Texas Housing Report.

Although total homes sold decreased year over year in January, the metro’s median sales price rose 30.4% to $476,000. In January 2021, a total of 2,253 homes sold—a 23.9% increase from January 2020—with a median sales price of $365,000.

“Austin’s unprecedented economic growth shows no signs of stopping, with announcements of new projects almost daily,” said Scott Turner, president of the Home Builders Association of Greater Austin in a press release. “While this is great for Austin long-term, our capacity to house people cannot keep up, with people having to drive further outside city limits to find a home they can afford,” he added.

Austin Board of Realtors officials said even with a slow decline in closed sales and new listings, Realtors are still anticipating helping their clients in a busy and competitive market in 2022.

Despite the number of homes sold dropping in 2021, the median price of homes has stayed on a steady incline since 2020. “We need a new [land development] code that allows more housing to be built, and we need the city to make the changes necessary to deliver permits in a reasonable time,” Turner said in the release. “Until then, home prices will continue to increase like they have for the past decade.”