Austin Real Estate Year End Review

Austin real estate continued to set records as it closed out 2021.  According to the December 2021 and Year-End Central Texas Housing Market Report released by the Austin Board of REALTORS® (ABoR), more homes were sold in the Austin-Round Rock MSA in 2021 than ever before, with residential home sales rising 2.5% year over year to 41,316 homes sold last year.

Austin Real Estate in 2021 had more sold homes than ever before 

Housing demand continues to outweigh supply

Mark Sprague, state director of information capital at Independence Title, reinforced that housing records were set due to high demand combined with limited supply, and provided a glimpse into what to expect in the coming year.

“In 2021, the record number of homes sold were demand-driven transactions and that demand was influenced greatly by companies continuing to target the region for job creation and expansion. Even though more homes are being built, listed, and sold than ever before, our region is still nowhere close to having a comfortable amount of supply to meet the demand, which is why home prices continue to rise steadily.”

When looking ahead to 2022, Sprague identified a lack of inventory and supply chain disruptions as variables that could impact Austin’s housing market.  “Lack of inventory and global supply chain issues may lead to a 5-7% decline in closed sales across the region in 2022, but rising home values will ensure the housing market’s economic impact remains steady. In short, 2022 will see a robust market for home sales and property values, but the region must do more to address inventory.”

Real Estate in Austin and all of Central Texas remains in a Seller’s Market

Austin Round Rock MSA December year-over-year median sales price increases as originally reported in the latest Austin Board of Realtors Central Texas Housing Report.

🔑City of Austin — $555,000, up 19.4% from a year earlier. 
🔑Travis County — $545,000 up 25.4% from a year earlier.  
🔑Williamson County — $450,000, up 38.5% from a year earlier. 
🔑Hays County — $395,070, up 29.5% from a year earlier. 
🔑Bastrop County — $385,000, up 42.6% from a year earlier. 
🔑Caldwell County — $294,850 up 39% from a year earlier.

Austin Round Rock MSA has been in a Seller’s Market for nearly 10 years

A balanced market is when there is an equal flow of buyers and sellers entering and leaving the market, somewhere in the range of 4-6 months. We haven’t had a balanced market in the Austin – Round Rock MSA as a whole in 10 years.

Here’s a link from The Texas Real Estate Research Center at Texas A&M with the breakdown of the Austin Round Rock MSA housing inventory since 1990.