A house in the Austin metro took a median of 52 days to sell in April 2023. Active inventory stood at 8,956 listings, up 75.5% year over year. The median sale was $474,103, down 16.1% year over year. The median sat 16.1% below the April 2022 peak of $565,000. That made it a roughly balanced market.
Austin market statistics, April 2023
| Metric | April 2023 |
|---|---|
| Median sale price | $474,103 (-16.1% YoY) |
| Median price per sq ft | $229 (-18.2% YoY) |
| Homes sold | 2,319 (-17.8% YoY) |
| New listings | 3,393 |
| Active inventory | 8,956 (+75.5% YoY) |
| Months of supply | 3.9 |
| Median days on market | 52 |
| Sale-to-list ratio | 97.8% |
| Sold above asking | 17.5% |
| Listings with a price cut | 30.3% |
| 30-year fixed rate (avg) | 6.34% |
Why Year-Over-Year Is the Wrong Number Right Now
Down 16.1% year over year, and up 4.4% from March. Both are correct. When you are comparing against the peak month of the biggest bubble in the market's history, the annual number tells you about April 2022, not about April 2023. Watch the month-over-month and the inventory instead.
What changed since March 2023
The median rose $20,103 from March 2023, a 4.4% move. Time on market shortened by 24 days, to 52. Active inventory grew by 396 listings, to 8,956. The share of homes selling over asking gained 3.0 points, to 17.5%.
One month is noise. The reason to read it anyway is that direction shows up in inventory and days on market well before it shows up in price, so the months where those two disagree with the headline number are the interesting ones.
Where this month sits in the cycle
| April 2023 | March 2023 | April 2022 | Since Oct 2016 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Median sale price | $474,103 | $454,000 | $565,000 | range $255,626–$565,000 |
| Median days on market | 52 | 76 | 25 | range 16–85 |
| Active inventory | 8,956 | 8,560 | 5,102 | range 2,660–10,647 |
| Months of supply | 3.9 | 3.4 | 1.8 | range 0.9–5.4 |
| Sold above asking | 18% | 15% | 68% | range 10%–75% |
| 30-year fixed rate | 6.34% | 6.54% | 4.98% | range 2.68%–6.9% |
The right-hand column is the range this series has covered since October 2016. No forecast in it, just where April 2023 falls against every month that came before it.
If you are buying in Austin right now
3.9 months of supply is close to balance. You can inspect properly, ask for repairs, and walk away from a house that does not work, three things that were not available to Austin buyers between 2020 and mid-2022.
The average home sold for 97.8% of asking, so roughly 2.2% under list was the normal outcome, not an insulting one.
The payment math. At $474,103 with 20% down at 6.34%, principal and interest runs about $2,358 a month. Add roughly $790 for property taxes and $316 for insurance and you are near $3,464 a month all in. Texas has no state income tax and this is where the state collects instead, budget the tax line from day one, not as an afterthought.
If you are selling: 52 median days on market means your first two weeks decide the outcome. Price to the last ninety days of closed comps, not to what your neighbor listed at and did not sell. Condition and photography are doing more work now than they were two years ago.
Neighborhood in focus
Downtown Austin (78701). Rainey Street, 6th Street, Congress Ave. Known for high-rise condos, walkable nightlife. It fits professionals who want urban living without a commute, and runs $350K condos to $1M+ penthouses.
The metro numbers above are an average of a very unequal city, Downtown Austin does not move in lockstep with Kyle or Leander, and the gap between ZIPs widens in exactly the months the metro looks calm. There is a longer, more honest write-up at /neighborhoods/downtown-austin/, including what is wrong with it.
On in Austin, April 2023
| When | What | Why it matters to a listing |
|---|---|---|
| Late April | Austin Food + Wine Festival, Auditorium Shores | Auditorium Shores and the south shore of Lady Bird Lake close for the weekend. Downtown hotel demand rises but nothing like SXSW. |
| Late March into early April | Texas Relays, Mike A. Myers Stadium, UT campus | Campus-area traffic and hotels fill for the weekend. Localised to 78705 and the blocks around San Jacinto. |
What is coming next
The May 6 election. A property tax relief deal in the Legislature, possibly requiring a special session.
Common questions
How much do I need to earn to buy a median-priced Austin home?
At $474,103 with 20% down at 6.34%, the all-in monthly payment is roughly $3,464 including estimated taxes and insurance. At a 30% housing-to-income ratio that implies household income around $139,000. Lenders will approve you well above that; whether you should go there is a different question. Property taxes are estimated at 2.0% of value, verify the actual rate for the specific address, because a MUD can push it past 3%.
Is the Austin housing market going to crash?
It already corrected. The metro median is 16.1% below the April 2022 peak, which is a larger drawdown than most US metros saw in this cycle, because Austin's run-up was larger. What is not present is the 2008 setup: lending standards are tight, most owners hold fixed-rate mortgages well below current rates, and Central Texas is still adding jobs and people. A slow market and a crashing one look different, and this is the first one.
Is it a good time to buy a house in Austin?
It is a reasonable one. At 3.9 months of supply neither side has a decisive edge, which means the outcome depends more on the specific house and your specific terms than on the market. That is the normal condition, and Austin has not spent much of the last decade in it.
How much are property taxes in Austin?
Combined city, county, school district and community college rates in the Austin area generally land between about 1.8% and 2.5% of assessed value, and higher inside a Municipal Utility District, where 3%+ is possible. There is no state income tax in Texas, and property tax is the trade. Two things every buyer should do: file a homestead exemption by April 30 of the year after you close, which caps annual taxable value increases at 10%, and check whether your target address sits in a MUD or PID before you finalize your budget.
Part of a retrospective series on the Austin market, one post per month since 2016, compiled from the historical record. This edition covers April 2023; every figure is as reported for that month, and nothing in it looks past it.
Source: Redfin Data Center metro market tracker: single-family, Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos metro, not seasonally adjusted. Mortgage rates are the monthly average of the Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey 30-year fixed rate. Payment, tax and insurance figures are estimates for illustration and are not a quote. Median sale price is not a guarantee of value for any specific property.
Written by Mike Vilece, a licensed Texas real estate agent with Compass in Austin. If you want the version of this that applies to your street and your budget, ask me directly.