Buyers who waited to take the plunge on a home in Austin last year might be regretting that decision about now.
The price for a home in the Texas capital rose by about $116,000 in the past year, according to a new Redfin study. The median cost of a home in the Austin metro area in January was $484,840, the real estate and data site reported. In a nod to newbie Texan Elon Musk, the report adds that the amount is approximately the cost of two Teslas (Models Y and S — the latter possibly used, since its 2022 starting list price is $96,440).
It’s also more than the 2021 increase in all but two other major US metros.
Redfin attributes the price jumps to 2021’s “red-hot housing market”—spurred, in turn, by record-low mortgage rates and remote work. A low supply of housing inventory in most of the country led to bidding wars that resulted in a large percentage of homes being sold over asking price. Redfin reported that in January, 70 percent of its offers faced competition.
In Austin’s case, rising prices reflected the influx of people from other parts of the United States. Migrants from pricey tech hubs such as the Bay Area and Seattle, who tended to have significantly larger homebuying budgets, helped drive prices up further.
A January report from the Austin Board of Realtors had similar findings. It put the median sales price in the Austin-Round Rock metro area for the month at $476,000, up 30 percent from the previous month. A Texas Board of Realtors analysis released last week shows median home price rising by 16 percent, to $300,000, statewide in the past year. The study’s median Austin price is significantly higher, at $450,000 for the year.
The two California cities where median home prices jumped more than Austin’s are San Jose (an increase of $158,500, to $1,359,500) and San Diego, where the number increased by $125,000 to $780,000.
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