Austin home sales hit October record despite all-time low supply

Home sales in Austin increased 14.5% year over year even as the inventory of single-family homes dropped to an all-time low for the month of October, according to the latest monthly report from the Austin Board of Realtors.

Continued high demand amid low supply belies the housing crisis in Austin and the need for meaningful policy changes, experts said.

“We’ve lost precious time trying to find the perfect land development code solution, while home prices continue to rise and traffic continues to worsen,” ABoR CEO Emily Chenevert said in a Nov. 21 press release. “What we need right now is progress, through a working code that protects private property owner rights and ensures our region’s future growth is sustainable.”

After nearly seven years of development—and one scrapped effort, called CodeNEXT—Austin City Council will take up a public hearing on a revised land development code and accompanying zoning maps on Dec. 7 and hold its first of three votes Dec. 9.

The median price for a single-family home in the city of Austin also set an October record, increasing 8.9% to $405,000, per the report.

“If you restrict density and resist growth, especially in a rapidly growing community like Austin, you’re going to drive home prices up,” said Jon Roberts, the principal of the local economic development consulting firm TIP Strategies, in a statement. “That means everyone below a certain income level won’t be able to afford to live in the community.”

At the Travis County level, single-family home sales also increased year over year by 20.8%, and the median price for a single-family home rose 9.1% to $385,000.

Single-family home sales, October 2019

Single-family home median sales price, October 2019

Single-family home sales, year to date