Central Austin home sales dipped 5 percent since September 2016, while the median home price increased 13.2 percent to $549,000, according to the September 2017 Central Texas Housing Market Report released today by the Austin Board of Realtors. According to ABoR, these trends were apparent across most of the Austin-Round Rock Metropolitan Statistical Area, which includes Central Austin. "Despite last month's dip in home sales activity, it's important to remember that we're comparing our current figures to the record-breaking housing market activity in 2016, and it's not necessarily indicative of a downturn," Brandy Guthrie, ABoR president, said in a news release about the report. Affordability, however, remains a key concern in the Central Austin market as fewer homes, at higher prices, are available for purchase. "Steady depletion of housing inventory is resulting in a fast rise in home prices and affordability challenges," Lawrence Yun, chief economist and senior vice president of research at the National Association of Realtors, said in the same news release. "The construction of single-family homes as well as condominiums needs to ramp up higher in order to fully satisfy housing demand and maintain housing affordability." If this does not happen, Yun said, job growth could stagnate, which would affect the local economy. Unless CodeNEXT, the city's new land development code, ensures housing at every price point is prioritized affordability will continue to suffer, Guthrie said. CodeNEXT has been in development for four years. Earlier this month, Austin City Council authorized an additional $2.27 million for consultants to continue their work on the rewrite project, which has cost $8.5 million to date. A third draft of the code, with accompanying zoning maps, will be released on Nov. 28.