The Austin Board of Realtors released its monthly homes report Feb. 15 for the month of January, showing the median price of single-family homes sold in Northwest Austin increasing at a slower pace than the entire city. The median price of homes sold saw the largest increase for the entire city of Austin. Northwest Austin—defined by the ZIP codes of 78726, 78727, 78729, 78750, 78758 and 78759—and Travis County saw increases only half that amount, and Williamson County had an even lower increase in the median home sales price. Housing inventory also remains an issue that city leaders hope to address through CodeNEXT, the rewrite of the land development code. City staffers released the third draft of the new code Feb. 12. Key takeaways from the draft include more density along the city’s corridors and pulling back on density in central core neighborhoods. “More housing capacity is necessary to offset the aggressive price increases we’re seeing in and around the city of Austin,” 2018 ABoR President Steve Crorey said in the news release. “Getting CodeNEXT right gives Austin the opportunity to manage our growth responsibly by providing more diverse housing choices and more housing overall without sacrificing the unique character of our neighborhoods.” Throughout Central Texas, the months of inventory, the amount of time it would take for all the homes currently on the market to sell and no new inventory comes online—remains very low. Statewide, the months of inventory is only 3 months. Six months is considered a healthy market. “In 2018, Central Texas’ housing market will continue to see an increase in both sales and price, despite inventory levels remaining low,” said Jim Gaines, chief economist, Real Estate Center at Texas A&M University, in a news release. “The housing demand and lack of inventory is so great, that if supply does not increase, we could see upwards of 5 percent growth in median home prices within the Austin-Round Rock MSA. Inventory will be a determining factor in the direction of this year’s market.”