Austin Business Journal writes, "With housing inventory in the Austin metro on the rise, the region may be close to becoming a buyer’s market.
That’s according to the latest report from Unlock MLS, which found that the metro’s housing inventory reached 5.6 months in April, up 1.4 months from the same time last year and closing in on the six-month mark that's generally considered a balanced market. But with the inventory rising and a larger stock of more affordably priced homes, conditions could lead to a buyer’s market, or at least one that’s favorable for first-time buyers, said Clare Knapp, housing economist for Unlock MLS and the Austin Board of Realtors.
“If anything, it’s a good market for first-time buyers in the sense that they have a level of affordable supply that we haven’t seen in a five-year span,” Knapp said. “But I wouldn’t necessarily, definitively say it’s a buyer’s market yet.”
Metro-wide, the median sales price of a home in April was $450,000. But Knapp said much of the available inventory is priced below that point.
For Unlock MLS’s purposes, the affordable pricing range is determined by looking at 80% of the area's median income, or around $104,000, and multiplying it by three, which is how much a first-time buyer should be paying.
“If a buyer is earning $104,000 annually, that would equate to a home price of somewhere between $300,000 and just under $400,000, depending on the kind of financing they have,” Knapp said.
A May 19 search on Unlock MLS turned up a list of 171 homes listed between $300,000 and $400,000.
That said, affordable inventory isn’t likely to be found anywhere close to downtown Austin. Instead, such homes are largely located in outlying suburbs, including Pflugerville, Elgin, Kyle, Buda and Hutto, Knapp said.
The $450,000 median sales price in April was a 3.2% drop year-over-year, but Knapp said she doesn’t read too much into positive or negative changes below 5% and instead would rather see a trend over several months to determine if homeowners were beginning to price homes more affordably. However, if inventory remains high, prices could continue to drop because of competition.
“You have a lot of homes on the market, but it’s also dependent upon how motivated sellers are,” Knapp said. “And I think a high proportion of sellers now are interested in selling their home, obviously, but they aren’t necessarily obligated to sell their home, if that makes sense.”
Many of the home sellers in Austin aren’t in a situation where they must sell their homes, Knapp said. Instead, Austin has many move-up buyers that want to purchase another home in Austin, and those sellers are not as inclined to sell a home quickly."
ABOR
Source: Austin Business Journal
Written by: Cody Baird
Published: May 19, 2025
Posted by Grossman & Jones Group on
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