# Austin Housing Market Report: December 2024, 2024 in Review: A Third Straight Year Down

> The Austin metro median sale price was $455,000 in December 2024, +1.6% year over year, with homes selling in 91 days and 3.8 months of supply. 2024 in Review: A Third Straight Year Down, what the numbers mean if you are buying or selling in Austin.

Mike Vilece · January 15, 2025
Canonical page: https://theaustinlocalgroup.com/blog/austin-housing-market-december-2024/

The median Austin-area listing spent **91 days** on the market in December 2024, the longest stretch in this series so far. The median sale was $455,000, flat against a year earlier at +1.6%. Active inventory stood at 8,750 listings, up 10.3% year over year.

## Austin market statistics, December 2024

| Metric | December 2024 |
| --- | --- |
| Median sale price | $455,000 (+1.6% YoY) |
| Median price per sq ft | $215 (-0.1% YoY) |
| Homes sold | 2,282 (+8.0% YoY) |
| New listings | 1,681 |
| Active inventory | 8,750 (+10.3% YoY) |
| Months of supply | 3.8 |
| Median days on market | 91 |
| Sale-to-list ratio | 96.8% |
| Sold above asking | 10.7% |
| Listings with a price cut | 23.4% |
| 30-year fixed rate (avg) | 6.71% |

## 2024 in Review: A Third Straight Year Down

Days on market closed the year at 91. The median finished at $455,000, and the annual average was down again. The third consecutive year of falling Austin prices. Since April 2022 the metro median has fallen roughly 19%, while national prices rose. Austin overshot on the way up and it has been paying that back.

## What changed since November 2024

The median rose $20,000 from November 2024, a 4.6% move. Time on market lengthened by 6 days, to 91. Active inventory shrank by 1,367 listings, to 8,750. The share of homes selling over asking gained 0.6 points, to 10.7%.

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

| | December 2024 | November 2024 | December 2023 | Since Oct 2016 |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Median sale price | $455,000 | $435,000 | $448,000 | range $255,626–$565,000 |
| Median days on market | 91 | 85 | 77 | highest since Oct 2016 |
| Active inventory | 8,750 | 10,117 | 7,930 | range 2,660–12,066 |
| Months of supply | 3.8 | 4.8 | 3.8 | range 0.9–5.5 |
| Sold above asking | 11% | 10% | 9% | range 9%–75% |
| 30-year fixed rate | 6.71% | 6.8% | 6.82% | 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 December 2024 falls against every month that came before it.

## If you are buying in Austin right now

3.8 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 96.8% of asking, so roughly 3.2% under list was the normal outcome, not an insulting one.

**The payment math.** At $455,000 with 20% down at 6.71%, principal and interest runs about **$2,351 a month**. Add roughly $758 for property taxes and $303 for insurance and you are near **$3,413 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:** 91 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

**South Austin (78704).** Travis Heights, Bouldin Creek, Zilker, Barton Hills. Known for barton Springs, Zilker, tight inventory. It fits buyers who want walkability to South Congress and the park.

The metro numbers above are an average of a very unequal city, 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/south-austin/](/neighborhoods/south-austin/), including what is wrong with it.

## On in Austin, December 2024

| When | What | Why it matters to a listing |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Mid to late December | **Armadillo Christmas Bazaar**, Palmer Events Center | Runs to Christmas Eve at the Palmer. Adds to the Zilker-area congestion the Trail of Lights is already causing. |
| Mid-December | **Trail of Lights**, Zilker Park | Roughly two weeks of nightly closures around Zilker. Barton Springs Road and the 78704 approaches are slow every evening it runs. |

## What is coming next

The Legislature in January. And the April 30 homestead exemption deadline, which now carries a $100,000 school exemption behind it.

## Common questions

### Is it a good time to buy a house in Austin?

It is a reasonable one. At 3.8 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.

### Is the Austin housing market going to crash?

It already corrected. The metro median is 19.5% 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.

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*Part of a retrospective series on the Austin market, one post per month since 2016, compiled from the historical record. This edition covers December 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](/#contact).*

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