AUSTIN (KXAN) — Home prices in Travis County have fallen to their lowest level in two years, according to the latest market report by the Austin Board of Realtors.
The median home price in the county in January was $499,274, the lowest since March 2021. January’s median is a 24% decrease from the peak of $659,000 recorded in May 2022.
In the Austin metro as a whole — which covers Bastrop, Caldwell, Hays and Williamson counties in addition to Travis — prices dropped by roughly 5% year-over-year.
“It is important to remember that when we compare year-over-year, we are currently comparing to an abnormal time in our market,” said Ashley Jackson, ABoR president. “As we reset our expectations to reflect the information our realtor experts are seeing in real-time, we need to look at month-to-month trends to have a true sense of what is going on in the region.”
Those month-to-month trends show despite the lower prices, more sellers are putting homes on the market. The number of new listings in January increased 63% compared to December. Buyers were also more active, seen by the number of pending listings, which increased by 32% in the same timeframe.
Still, homes sold in January spent an average of 76 days on the market, the highest average the Austin metro has seen in almost 11 years.
In total, 1,634 homes were sold in the metro area in January, for more than $900 million combined. That’s a decrease in sales dollar volume of 29% compared to the previous January. But price declines are not affecting all parts of the metro at the same scale.
Median prices fell by 12% year-over-year in Bastrop County, 6% in Travis County and 5% in Williamson County. But at the same time, prices rose by 0.6% in Caldwell County and increased by 10% in Hays County.
“Outlying areas like Caldwell and Hays counties are the most affordable pockets in Central Texas,” Jackson said. “When we have a city like Austin challenged by affordability, the entry point in surrounding areas will slightly increase as people try and find neighborhoods they can afford. These outer county data sets are reflective of affordability disappearing from Austin and closer-in suburbs hence why buyers are moving further out in Central Texas.”
