Price Variation Around Austin

In 2017 Outlook I promised to provide more information about how much home prices can vary from one area to another around the Greater Austin area.  I won’t get down to neighborhood-specific market activity in this post, but looking at the 5-county metropolitan area in pieces will paint a fairly complete picture.

As a starting point, there is one aspect of the Austin-area residential real estate market where there isn’t much difference.  For the past 4 years, this has been a very fast-paced market where most homes sell quickly very near, and often above, list price.  Here’s a look at how long single family homes were available for sale during the second half of 2016, and how close the actual sale price was to list price:

The median time on market across the metro area was 21 days during that six-month period.  You can see in the table above that accessibility did seem to affect market velocity (Jonestown/Lago Vista, Dripping Springs/Wimberley, and Lakeway/Bee Cave), and as you might expect, some price ranges sell faster than others:

With that in mind, here is how average and median prices compared in the geographic areas listed in the first table above:

Finally, in 2016 in Review, I discussed the upward migration of sale prices across the metropolitan area over the past 5 years, and showed the concentration of sales in the second half of 2016 to be in the $200,000 to $400,000 range.  That concentration by price and location is visible in this table:

The dramatic activity and upward price pressure over the past several years was driven by job creation and population growth in the area.  It appears that may abate somewhat this year, but the consensus opinion among local analysts is that the trend will continue this year.  If you’re considering a move, I hope the market data in this post will help you to target your  listing price and/or your home search as effectively as possible.  Consult an active real estate professional, though, because there are variations even within those areas, and many factors affect demand and sale-ability of a specific home in a specific neighborhood.