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Austin Housing Market Report: June 2023, The $100,000 Homestead Exemption Deal

Mike Vilece · July 15, 2023 · 5 min read

The Austin metro median sat 13.7% below its April 2022 peak in June 2023, at $487,722. Homes took a median of 48 days to sell. Active inventory stood at 9,655 listings, up 8.8% year over year. That made it a market tilted to sellers.

Austin market statistics, June 2023

Metric June 2023
Median sale price $487,722 (-10.5% YoY)
Median price per sq ft $232 (-14.1% YoY)
Homes sold 2,904 (-5.0% YoY)
New listings 3,749
Active inventory 9,655 (+8.8% YoY)
Months of supply 3.3
Median days on market 48
Sale-to-list ratio 97.9%
Sold above asking 18.1%
Listings with a price cut 39.7%
30-year fixed rate (avg) 6.71%

The $100,000 Homestead Exemption Deal

The Legislature reached an $18 billion property tax deal in July's special session: school district rate compression plus raising the school homestead exemption from $40,000 to $100,000, subject to voter approval in November. For a median Austin homeowner that is worth roughly $1,200 to $1,400 a year.

What changed since May 2023

The median rose $17,722 from May 2023, a 3.8% move. Time on market shortened by 1 days, to 48. Active inventory grew by 299 listings, to 9,655. The share of homes selling over asking gained 0.1 points, to 18.1%.

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

June 2023 May 2023 June 2022 Since Oct 2016
Median sale price $487,722 $470,000 $545,000 range $255,626–$565,000
Median days on market 48 49 28 range 16–85
Active inventory 9,655 9,356 8,878 range 2,660–10,647
Months of supply 3.3 3 2.9 range 0.9–5.4
Sold above asking 18% 18% 54% range 10%–75%
30-year fixed rate 6.71% 6.42% 5.52% 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 June 2023 falls against every month that came before it.

If you are buying in Austin right now

At 3.3 months of supply, sellers still have the edge on the best listings and buyers have real leverage on everything else. The spread between those two groups is where the negotiation lives.

The average home sold for 97.9% of asking, so roughly 2.1% under list was the normal outcome, not an insulting one.

The payment math. At $487,722 with 20% down at 6.71%, principal and interest runs about $2,520 a month. Add roughly $813 for property taxes and $325 for insurance and you are near $3,658 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: 48 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/, including what is wrong with it.

On in Austin, June 2023

When What Why it matters to a listing
Mid-June Republic of Texas Biker Rally, Travis County Expo Center, east Four days. Congress Avenue and the east side carry the traffic and the noise; the effect on showings is loud rather than obstructive.
Jun 19 Juneteenth, East Austin Parade and celebrations through east Austin, where the holiday has been marked since 1867. Street closures in 78702 and around Rosewood.

What is coming next

Proposition 4 on the November 7 statewide ballot. Also: it is going to be an extraordinarily hot summer.

Common questions

When is the best time of year to buy a house in Austin?

October through January, consistently. Austin's listing calendar runs about six weeks ahead of the national one. The best selection appears in March and April, and so does the most competition. By late fall, spring listings are six months old, sellers have adjusted their expectations, and days on market runs 30 to 50 days longer than it did in April. You get less to choose from and far more leverage over what is left.

What is the average home price in Austin?

The median single-family sale across the Austin metro in June 2023 was $487,722. Median is the more useful number than average here. A handful of Westlake and Tarrytown sales pull an average upward in a way that tells you nothing about what you will pay. Note also that the metro figure covers Travis, Williamson, Hays, Bastrop and Caldwell counties; the City of Austin proper runs meaningfully higher, and the suburbs meaningfully lower.

Is Austin a buyer's market or a seller's market?

In June 2023, a market tilted to sellers, 3.3 months of supply, with 18% of homes selling above asking. The rough convention: under about 3 months favors sellers, 4 to 6 is balanced, and above 6 favors buyers. Since October 2016 this metro has ranged from 0.9 months in December 2020 to 5.4 in January 2023.

What should I know about flooding before buying in Austin?

Central Texas is Flash Flood Alley: thin soil over limestone, steep terrain, and storms that stall. Austin models its own floodplain, which is often stricter than FEMA's, so a house can sit outside the FEMA 100-year map and inside the city's. Standard homeowners insurance does not cover flood, NFIP policies take 30 days to take effect, and plenty of local flooding happens outside mapped floodplains. Pull both maps and get a flood quote during your option period.


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

Austin · Austin Housing Market · Market Data · June 2023

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