As the number of homes sold in Central Texas has increased throughout 2017, reports from local real estate groups show Cedar Park and Leander at the top of the trend.

Metrostudy, a company that provides data on residential construction and the housing market, reported in April that 2017 first-quarter home starts in the Austin market were up nearly 15 percent year-over-year with 14,392 houses that have started construction. The market includes Bastrop, Burnet, Caldwell, Hays, Travis and Williamson counties.

Williamson County comprised nearly 46 percent of home starts during that time. Of all the area submarkets, the portions of Cedar Park and Leander west of Toll 183A took the top spot in the number of home starts from the first quarter of 2016 to the first quarter of 2017.

“The Cedar Park and Leander housing market continues to be one of the highest-performing local markets in Central Texas,” said Steve Crorey, a broker with Sierra Homes Realty and president-elect of the Austin Board of Realtors. “Both cities are experiencing rapid growth as well as significant housing and retail development, which is appealing to homebuyers.”

According to  ABoR data, the number of homes sold  in Cedar Park and Leander increased 2.6 percent in May compared with the same time in 2016. The median home price in the Cedar Park and Leander area rose 12.1 percent year-over-year to $323,388.

“Those are areas where people can afford [to live], compared to the city of Austin, which is not only land-constrained for subdivisions, but also just kind of becoming unaffordable for a lot of people,” Crorey said.

He said there is land available to build in Cedar Park and Leander and a strong economy with job opportunities.

“That kind of combination of things, it leads to a good, steady market,” he said.

Until there is a wider range of housing and more affordable options in Austin, Crorey said residents are going to keep looking to Cedar Park and Leander, and home prices are likely to keep increasing.