Austin home sales keep getting hotter.  The greater Austin area posted record-breaking gains in May, as the median home price reached an all-time high—for any month on record—of $465,000, while both home sales and sales dollar volume skyrocketed, according to The Austin Board of REALTORS® May 2021 Central Texas Housing Report.

Austin Home Sales can’t keep up with demand

“Austin’s housing market has become one of the most competitive markets in the U.S.,” Susan Horton, 2021 ABoR President, said. “As new companies relocate to Austin and the city’s popularity draws in new residents, the sheer demand for housing has created a critical inventory shortage, reinforcing that affordability and accessibility to housing across our region is a real concern and should be a top priority for local leaders.”

Buying a Home in Austin continues to be a challenge

Residential home sales in the Austin Round-Rock MSA once again hit a record for the month of May, increasing 48% year over year to 3,976 sales, while the median sales price jumped 42.2% year over year to an all-time high of $465,000. At the same time, sales dollar volume increased 116.2% year over year to $2,355,132,804. Monthly housing inventory dipped 1.5 months to a critically low 0.5 months of inventory.

Shopping for Homes

This data is being compared to May 2020 numbers, a month in which stay-at-home orders were still in effect due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic greatly affected the real estate industry, causing an atypical slowdown in transactions—particularly for this time of year—which is part of the traditional selling season.

In May, active listings dropped 70.9% year over year to 1,739 listings, demonstrating how quickly homes are going under contract. Homes only spent an average of 16 days on market last month across the MSA. During the same period, new listings increased 6.3% to 4,413 listings, while pending sales rose 7.4% to 4,355 listings.

Proposed increase in Homestead Exemptions

For years, ABoR advocated for an increase in the local homestead exemption. Last week, Austin City Council took steps toward alleviating housing affordability challenges by unanimously passing an increase of the local homestead exemption from 10% to 20%. Horton reaffirmed that addressing affordability is of paramount importance for the organization.