# Austin Housing Market Report: September 2022, Rate Buydowns, Explained

> The Austin metro median sale price was $478,900 in September 2022, +4.1% year over year, with homes selling in 47 days and 4.1 months of supply. Rate Buydowns, Explained, what the numbers mean if you are buying or selling in Austin.

Mike Vilece · October 15, 2022
Canonical page: https://theaustinlocalgroup.com/blog/austin-housing-market-september-2022/

Austin-area buyers had **10,647 active listings** to work with in September 2022, up 91.4% from a year earlier. Homes took a median of 47 days to sell. The 30-year fixed averaged 6.11% that month, the highest monthly average in this series so far. That made it a roughly balanced market.

## Austin market statistics, September 2022

| Metric | September 2022 |
| --- | --- |
| Median sale price | $478,900 (+4.1% YoY) |
| Median price per sq ft | $244 (+3.6% YoY) |
| Homes sold | 2,616 (-17.5% YoY) |
| New listings | 3,236 |
| Active inventory | 10,647 (+91.4% YoY) |
| Months of supply | 4.1 |
| Median days on market | 47 |
| Sale-to-list ratio | 98.3% |
| Sold above asking | 22.1% |
| Listings with a price cut | 47.1% |
| 30-year fixed rate (avg) | 6.11% |

## Rate Buydowns, Explained

Rates crossed 6.7% in September and the median fell to $478,900 from the April peak of $565,000. The move sellers were making, and buyers should have been asking for: a 2-1 buydown, where the seller funds an escrow that cuts your rate two points in year one and one point in year two. On a $450,000 loan that is real money in the years you feel it most.

## What changed since August 2022

The median fell $35,083 from August 2022, a 6.8% move. Time on market lengthened by 7 days, to 47. Active inventory grew by 192 listings, to 10,647. The share of homes selling over asking gave up 5.1 points, to 22.1%.

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

| | September 2022 | August 2022 | September 2021 | Since Oct 2016 |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Median sale price | $478,900 | $513,983 | $460,000 | range $255,626–$565,000 |
| Median days on market | 47 | 40 | 33 | range 16–58 |
| Active inventory | 10,647 | 10,455 | 5,563 | highest since Oct 2016 |
| Months of supply | 4.1 | 4.1 | 1.8 | range 0.9–4.2 |
| Sold above asking | 22% | 27% | 52% | range 14%–75% |
| 30-year fixed rate | 6.11% | 5.22% | 2.9% | highest since Oct 2016 |

The right-hand column is the range this series has covered since October 2016. No forecast in it, just where September 2022 falls against every month that came before it.

## If you are buying in Austin right now

4.1 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 98.3% of asking, so roughly 1.7% under list was the normal outcome, not an insulting one.

**The payment math.** At $478,900 with 20% down at 6.11%, principal and interest runs about **$2,324 a month**. Add roughly $798 for property taxes and $319 for insurance and you are near **$3,442 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:** 47 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, September 2022

| When | What | Why it matters to a listing |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Sep 24–25 | **Pecan Street Festival (Fall)**, Sixth Street Historic District | The autumn edition, same footprint as May. Sixth Street closed for the weekend, downtown slow, nothing beyond it. |
| Home Saturdays | **Texas Longhorns home games**, Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium | I-35 through central, campus parking and everything within a mile of the stadium stop working by late morning on a home Saturday. A wasted afternoon for an open house in 78705, 78751 or downtown. |

## What is coming next

Rates near 7%. The November 8 election.

## Common questions

### Are Austin home prices going up or down?

Up 4.1% year over year as of September 2022. Against the April 2022 peak of $565,000, the metro median is 15.2% lower. Which number matters to you depends on when you bought.

### Should I buy in Austin or in the suburbs?

The honest trade: Round Rock, Cedar Park, Leander, Pflugerville, Georgetown, Kyle and Buda will get you meaningfully more square footage and, in Round Rock ISD, Leander ISD and Lake Travis ISD, schools that rate as well or better than most Austin ISD zones. What you give up is proximity, and in Austin proximity is the scarce good. The drive from Leander to downtown at 8am is not the drive you tested on a Sunday. Check the MUD rate before you compare prices; a suburban house can carry a higher monthly cost than a more expensive central one.

### 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 $478,900 with 20% down at 6.11%, the all-in monthly payment is roughly $3,442 including estimated taxes and insurance. At a 30% housing-to-income ratio that implies household income around **$138,000**. 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 September 2022; 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).*

---

More posts: https://theaustinlocalgroup.com/blog/