In January, median home prices in Central Austin decreased 0.2% to $680,000 in Central Austin.
This trend was reflected throughout the Austin-Round Rock area, where median home prices decreased 6.3% to $450,000, the largest drop since July 2011, according to ABoR.
ABoR President Ashley Jackson said that while the market is cooling within the Austin region, surrounding Central Texas cities are seeing an uptick in home prices.
“Outlying areas like Caldwell and Hays counties are the most affordable pockets in Central Texas. When we have a city like Austin challenged by affordability, the entry point in surrounding areas will slightly increase as people try and find neighborhoods they can afford,” said Jackson. “These outer county data sets are reflective of affordability disappearing from Austin and closer-in suburbs, hence why buyers are moving further out in Central Texas.”
Last month, new listings in Central Austin increased from 173 in December to 381 new listings in January. Active listings also continued to increase from 675 in December to 716 in January.
In January, home sales in the Central Austin region decreased 34.7% to 162 sales year over year, while sales dollar volume decreased 31.7% to $138,606,055, according to ABoR.
Monthly housing inventory in Central Austin increased from 2.4 months in December to 2.7 months in January. In January 2022, the Central Austin market only saw 0.4 months of inventory.
Despite the steady uptick in inventory, Jackson said the Austin region needs more housing, as the standard for a balanced housing market between buyers and sellers is six months of housing inventory.
“It is important to remember that when we compare year-over-year, we are currently comparing to an abnormal time in our market,” said Jackson. “As we reset our expectations to reflect the information our realtor experts are seeing in real-time, we need to look at month-to-month trends to have a true sense of what is going on in the region. Realtors are seeing an uptick in activity from December 2022 to January 2023, and that is reflected in the new and pending listing trends month-to-month.”
