The Austin Local Group

Home / Blog / Austin Housing Market Report: March 2025, Protesting an Appraisal When Prices Are Falling

Austin Real Estate

Austin Housing Market Report: March 2025, Protesting an Appraisal When Prices Are Falling

Mike Vilece · April 15, 2025 · 5 min read

The median Austin-area listing spent 75 days on the market in March 2025. The median sale was $449,000, flat against a year earlier at -1.9%. Active inventory stood at 11,199 listings, up 16.6% year over year.

Austin market statistics, March 2025

Metric March 2025
Median sale price $449,000 (-1.9% YoY)
Median price per sq ft $219 (-2.5% YoY)
Homes sold 2,351 (-5.6% YoY)
New listings 4,336
Active inventory 11,199 (+16.6% YoY)
Months of supply 4.8
Median days on market 75
Sale-to-list ratio 97.5%
Sold above asking 13.9%
Listings with a price cut 31.9%
30-year fixed rate (avg) 6.65%

Protesting an Appraisal When Prices Are Falling

Inventory hit 11,199. This is the easiest possible protest environment: your county appraisal is a January 1 estimate, and if comparable sales in your neighborhood closed below it during the year, you have a documented case. Travis, Williamson and Hays all take online protests. Most people still do not file.

What changed since February 2025

The median rose $13,766 from February 2025, a 3.2% move. Time on market shortened by 24 days, to 75. Active inventory grew by 1,343 listings, to 11,199. The share of homes selling over asking gained 1.3 points, to 13.9%.

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

March 2025 February 2025 March 2024 Since Oct 2016
Median sale price $449,000 $435,234 $457,495 range $255,626–$565,000
Median days on market 75 99 63 range 16–99
Active inventory 11,199 9,856 9,603 range 2,660–12,066
Months of supply 4.8 5.6 3.9 range 0.9–5.6
Sold above asking 14% 13% 16% range 9%–75%
30-year fixed rate 6.65% 6.84% 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 March 2025 falls against every month that came before it.

If you are buying in Austin right now

At 4.8 months of supply this is a buyer's market, and 75 median days on market is the negotiating position. A listing that is ninety days old belongs to a seller whose plan is not working. That is worth more than any clever offer strategy.

The average home sold for 97.5% of asking, so roughly 2.5% under list was the normal outcome, not an insulting one.

The payment math. At $449,000 with 20% down at 6.65%, principal and interest runs about $2,306 a month. Add roughly $748 for property taxes and $299 for insurance and you are near $3,354 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: with 11,199 active listings and 75 median days on market, you are competing against a lot of houses and a patient buyer. Price ahead of the market rather than chasing it down, and consider funding a rate buydown, at these rates it moves a buyer's monthly payment more than an equivalent price cut does.

Neighborhood in focus

Hyde Park (78751). North Loop, North University. Known for craftsman bungalows, established. It fits buyers who want an established neighborhood with long-term value.

The metro numbers above are an average of a very unequal city, Hyde Park 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/hyde-park/, including what is wrong with it.

On in Austin, March 2025

When What Why it matters to a listing
Early March Zilker Kite Festival, Zilker Park Zilker parking is gone by mid-morning and Barton Springs Road backs up. A Sunday that costs you traffic in 78704 and nowhere else.
Mar 7–15 SXSW, Downtown / Convention Center The hardest week of the year to show a downtown property. Central traffic is unusable and short-term rentals price like hotels.

What is coming next

The April 30 homestead exemption deadline. A property tax package moving through the Legislature.

Common questions

Do I need a buyer's agent in Austin, and who pays for one?

Since the NAR practice changes took effect in August 2024, you sign a written buyer representation agreement, specifying what your agent is paid and by whom, before touring a home. Compensation offers no longer appear in the MLS. Sellers can and frequently still do contribute to the buyer's agent fee; it is negotiated in the purchase contract now rather than advertised in the listing. The fee is negotiable and always was.

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.

How much do I need to earn to buy a median-priced Austin home?

At $449,000 with 20% down at 6.65%, the all-in monthly payment is roughly $3,354 including estimated taxes and insurance. At a 30% housing-to-income ratio that implies household income around $134,000. 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%.


Part of a retrospective series on the Austin market, one post per month since 2016, compiled from the historical record. This edition covers March 2025; 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 · March 2025

Thinking about a move?

No pressure, no pitch. I'll tell you what fits and what doesn't, even when it costs me a sale.

Start the Conversation

Machine-readable version of this post: austin-housing-market-march-2025.md · All posts · More from 2025