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Austin Housing Market Report: April 2024, Ten Thousand Choices and Time to Inspect

Mike Vilece · May 15, 2024 · 6 min read

There were 10,693 homes on the market across the Austin metro in April 2024, more than any month in this series so far. The median sale was $469,878, flat against a year earlier at -0.9%. The share selling above asking was 18%. The 30-year fixed averaged 6.99% that month.

Austin market statistics, April 2024

Metric April 2024
Median sale price $469,878 (-0.9% YoY)
Median price per sq ft $228 (-0.6% YoY)
Homes sold 2,643 (+14.0% YoY)
New listings 4,271
Active inventory 10,693 (+19.4% YoY)
Months of supply 4
Median days on market 49
Sale-to-list ratio 98.0%
Sold above asking 17.7%
Listings with a price cut 31.4%
30-year fixed rate (avg) 6.99%

Ten Thousand Choices and Time to Inspect

Inventory hit 10,693, the highest April reading since 2011, and the median was essentially flat year over year. The eclipse passed over Austin on April 8 behind clouds. For buyers, the meaningful number is not the median. It is that you had ten thousand choices and time to inspect them.

What changed since March 2024

The median rose $12,383 from March 2024, a 2.7% move. Time on market shortened by 14 days, to 49. Active inventory grew by 1,090 listings, to 10,693. The share of homes selling over asking gained 1.5 points, to 17.7%.

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 2024 March 2024 April 2023 Since Oct 2016
Median sale price $469,878 $457,495 $474,103 range $255,626–$565,000
Median days on market 49 63 52 range 16–85
Active inventory 10,693 9,603 8,956 highest since Oct 2016
Months of supply 4 3.9 3.9 range 0.9–5.4
Sold above asking 18% 16% 18% range 9%–75%
30-year fixed rate 6.99% 6.82% 6.34% range 2.68%–7.62%

The right-hand column is the range this series has covered since October 2016. No forecast in it, just where April 2024 falls against every month that came before it.

If you are buying in Austin right now

4 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 98.0% of asking, so roughly 1.9% under list was the normal outcome, not an insulting one.

The payment math. At $469,878 with 20% down at 6.99%, principal and interest runs about $2,498 a month. Add roughly $783 for property taxes and $313 for insurance and you are near $3,595 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: 49 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

Deep South Austin (78745). Cherry Creek, Garrison Park, Manchaca. Known for value, access, first-time buyers. It fits first-time buyers and young families.

The metro numbers above are an average of a very unequal city, Deep South 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/deep-south-austin/, including what is wrong with it.

On in Austin, April 2024

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

Council votes May 16 on HOME Phase 2, which would cut the minimum single-family lot size from 5,750 to 1,800 square feet.

Common questions

What is a MUD district and why does it matter?

A Municipal Utility District is a taxing entity that finances water, sewer and drainage infrastructure in developments outside city utility service: common in Leander, Kyle, Buda, Manor and parts of Pflugerville and Dripping Springs. It levies its own rate on top of city, county and school, and can add a full percentage point or more to your effective tax rate. MUD rates typically decline as the district's debt is paid down, but that takes decades. It is the most common surprise in a suburban Central Texas closing, and it is disclosed, read the MUD notice.

How long are homes taking to sell in Austin?

A median of 49 days in April 2024. That is the number to watch if you only watch one, days on market turns before price does, in both directions. For reference, since October 2016 this measure has ranged from 16 days in May 2016 to 85 in February 2023.

What are the best neighborhoods in Austin for families?

It depends on what you are optimizing for, and anyone who answers without asking is selling you something. Broadly: Circle C, Steiner Ranch and Avery Ranch for space and schools; Mueller, Crestview and Brentwood for walkability with a yard; Westlake and West Lake Hills for Eanes ISD if the budget reaches; Hyde Park and Bryker Woods for older homes near central. There are honest write-ups of nine of these at theaustinlocalgroup.com/neighborhoods, including the parts that are not flattering.

I am moving to Austin from California. What actually surprises people?

Four things, in order of how much money they cost. Property taxes, which run roughly 1.8-2.5% and have no Proposition 13-style cap beyond the 10% homestead limit. Homeowners insurance, which is among the highest in the country because of hail. Summer utility bills in an underinsulated house. And foundations: much of the region sits on expansive clay that moves with drought and rain, so watering your foundation is a real practice here and a structural engineer's report is money well spent on any older slab home.


Part of a retrospective series on the Austin market, one post per month since 2016, compiled from the historical record. This edition covers April 2024; 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.

Austin · Austin Housing Market · Market Data · April 2024

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