Austin Real Estate Market Report

Austin Home Sales Set October Record

The Austin metro are set a new record for the number of homes sold in the month of October. Even though many of us were trying to stay out of the rain, homebuyers remained very active.

The five-county metro area saw a 4.3 percent year-over-year increase during October, according to the latest stats from the Austin Board of Realtors. That included more than $900 million in sales and a 4.3 percent increase in sales volume, bringing the metro’s total homes sold to 2,347.

The strong sales figures came despite ever-increasing home prices. The median home price in the metro reached $308,355 in October. That represented an 8 percent increase in price compared to the same month last year.

“Over the past several years, Austin’s housing stock and home sales have become opposing forces that are widening our housing gap,” Steve Crorey, president of the Austin Board of Realtors, said. “We saw slight inventory increases across the market, particularly in the suburbs, but they’re not enough to offset ongoing demand.”

Looking back at the last 12 months, Austin home prices average out at $387,794. That’s up from $372,492 in 2017 and $353,919 in 2016. Meanwhile, the number of days homes are on the market, on average, has climbed from 50 days in 2016 to 54 last year and 57 in the past 12 months. The number of homes sold climbed from 29,805 in 2016 to 31,145 in the past 12 months.

Inside Austin city limits, sales increased 7.8 percent month-over-month, a welcomed increase after months of seeing prices inside the city continue to climb. In October, the median price of a single-family home climbed 3.7 percent from last year to $377,000.

Those prices are being driven by strong demand in a hot economy.

More broadly, in Travis County, home sales also increased, and median prices increased more than 5 percent year-over-year to $358,540. And to Austin’s north, in Williamson County, sales decreased half a percent as median prices rose 4.5 percent to $281,250.

To Austin’s south, in Hays County, the pace of sales increased 8.1 percent in October. Median prices, meanwhile, decreased 1.5 percent to $250,000.

Here are more Austin metro area home sales figures from October 2018.

Median Price for Single-Family Homes in the Austin Area — $308,355

Single-Family Homes Sold in the Austin Area — 2,347

Average Number of Days on the Market — 59

Total Dollar Volume of Homes Sold in the Area — $901 Million

Months of Housing Inventory Available — 3

New Listings — 2,871

Active Listings — 7,434

Pending Sales — 2,444