Luxe Austin Homes - affordability

"The Tech Hub Emerging as America’s Most Affordable Market for Renters"

Realtor.com reports, "while aspiring homeowners are facing economic headwinds, rents are becoming increasingly affordable nationwide, with Western and Southern metros leading the way. However, one metro stands out from the rest.

In September, Austin, TX, the COVID-19 pandemic-era boomtown and technology hub, overtook Oklahoma City, OK, as the nation's most affordable rental market.

A family earning a typical household income looking to rent in Austin would spend just 16.5% of their monthly paycheck on housing, down 2.8 percentage points from a year ago, according to the September monthly rent report from Realtor.com®.

"Austin's rising housing affordability is primarily driven by declining rents," says Realtor.com economist Jiayi Xu. "The…

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"Fed rate cut could boost Austin housing market"

Austin Business Journal shares, "The Federal Reserve has lowered rates by a quarter point, a welcome sign for homebuyers.

The federal funds rate is now 4% to 4.25%, according to a Sept. 17 announcement, marking the Fed's first rate cut since December. The cut comes as economic indicators point to the growth of economic activity moderating in the first half of the year, job gains slowing and the national unemployment rate increasing to 4.3%, according to the announcement.

Lowering the rate could have an impact on housing affordability in the Austin metro, where the median price of a home was $444,490 in August, 1.3% more than the year prior.

“Even a small rate shift can improve affordability and prompt more buyers to re-enter the market, a…

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"Homebuyers are gaining leverage — but the minimum income to buy is surging"

Austin Business Journal writes, "Americans now need to earn $114,000 per year to afford a median priced home.

That's an increase of 70.1% above the $67,000 required to afford that same mid-range home in 2019, according to data from Realtor.com. It's an increase driven by sky-high appreciation, persistent supply constraints and stubbornly high interest rates, among other factors — and the dynamic continues to weigh heavily on the housing market, even as buyers gain leverage.

The data looked at median home prices each April for the past six years.

“Even with today’s affordability hurdles, meaningful changes in the market could give buyers a better shot at finding a home,” said Danielle Hale, chief economist at Realtor.com. “The number of homes…

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"Analysis quantifies impact on rents when apartment supply increases"

Austin Business Journal shares, "Apartment rents typically drop when new units are added to a market's housing supply, but a new analysis quantifies by how much.

The study by the Pew Charitable Trusts on rent changes in major U.S. cities from 2017 to 2024 determined that for every 10% increase in a ZIP code’s housing supply, rent growth was 1.4% less compared to a ZIP code that had no additional housing supply. The Pew analysis also found that a 10% increase in a market's housing supply correlated to rents growing 5% less from 2017 to 2024.

In Austin, which has undergone an apartment building boom in recent years, the biggest rent declines were for older and lower-quality units, the study found.

Alex Horowitz, project director of housing…

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"Dallas-Fort Worth, Austin are some of the nation’s top real estate markets, study says"

Spectrum News writes, "some of the top real estate markets in the nation are in the Lone Star State, according to a recent study.

The data comes from WalletHub, which used metrics like real-estate market rank, affordability and economic environment to rank U.S. cities.

In the top 10 alone are five Dallas-Fort Worth area cities, including McKinney, north of Dallas, with a total score of 72.33; Richardson, a Dallas suburb, with a score of 68.11; Denton, with 66.52; and Allen with a score of 66.35.

Making the top 20 were Fort Worth and Austin, with close scores of 65.31 and 65.13, respectively.

“Current home prices are extremely important, but there’s much more that you need to look at when determining the health of a city’s real estate…

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"Austin named 4th best U.S. city for renters in 2025"

CultureMap Austin shares, " A summer RentCafe report has found Austin's ideal market for renters has eclipsed most other American cities, earning it a top-five spot among the best U.S. cities for renters in 2025. It's northern neighbor Round Rock also made it into the top 10.

RentCafe's "Best Cities for Renters to Live in 2025" report annually compares 150 U.S. cities based on 20 factors examining their quality of life, local economy, and cost of living and housing opportunities. The report notes that cities were chosen if they had an "apartment stock" consisting of a minimum 10,000 units, and any cities with lower apartment stocks were excluded.

Austin ranked 4th overall on the list, three spots higher than its 2024 ranking, while Round Rock…

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"Austin is the best city for new college graduates in 2025"

Scotsman Guide writes, "Austin, Texas, is the best city for recent graduates this year, thanks to high beginning salaries, an abundant supply of apartments and a vibrant social scene, according to a new report from Zillow.

The real estate website’s 2025 list of the best cities for college graduates had a strong Sun Belt theme. Texas dominated the top five choices of the survey, with first-place Austin being followed by Dallas at No. 3 and San Antonio at No. 4. Rounding out the top five are Albuquerque, N.M., in second place and Charlotte, N.C., in fifth place.

Zillow’s rankings combine rental affordability and the share of rental listings on Zillow offering concessions. The report also considers the strength of the local job market and the size…

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"New Austinites continue to flock from the coasts, U-Haul data shows"

Austin Business Journal shares, "Californians and Floridians have been moving to the Austin metro in higher numbers than residents of any other U.S. states, according to one of America’s most prominent moving companies. 

U-Haul released its 2025 mid-year report July 16 regarding migration trends, breaking down where people are moving to and from. It tracked one-way customer transactions from January to July this year to determine the leading origins for trucks, trailers and U-Box moving containers bound for large metro areas around the country.

U-Haul found that Austin is a popular destination for people from two of the largest states in the U.S. — California, which has a population of 39.4 million, and Florida, which has a population of 23.4…

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"Austin ranks among 20 best large U.S. cities for first-time homebuyers"

CultureMap Austin writes, "As Austin's real estate market slowly bounces back after several years of high housing prices, a new WalletHub analysis has revealed it is the 19th best large U.S. city for first-time homebuyers, and the No. 1 big city in Texas.

WalletHub's study ranked 300 U.S. cities across 22 metrics based on affordability, quality of life, and the status of each city's real estate market, including factors like active listings per capita, homeownership rates for millennials, and more. Cities were ranked overall and based on population size: Large cities with more than 300,000 residents; midsize cities with populations between 150,000-300,000 people; and small cities with fewer than 150,000 people.

Palm Bay, Florida ranked as the…

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"Legislative wrap up: Texas passes key housing bills"

Austin Business Journal writes, "The most recent Texas legislative session saw a slate of measures passed to make it easier to build more housing across the state. 

Some of the laws that were changed include allowing smaller and ideally more affordable homes to be built, expanding where housing in the state could be built and making it harder for housing developments to be killed in the approval process. 

While the Texas Legislature and its process is known for killing more bills than they pass, the 89th legislative session proved to be a “really strong” one for housing and affordability, said Julia Parenteau, the director of public policy for Texas Realtors. 

“We did anticipate that housing affordability, in particular, was going to be…

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