The Austin metro carried 5.5 months of supply in September 2024, a buyer's market. Homes took a median of 75 days to sell. The median sat 22.8% below the April 2022 peak of $565,000.
Austin market statistics, September 2024
| Metric | September 2024 |
|---|---|
| Median sale price | $435,900 (-5.2% YoY) |
| Median price per sq ft | $215 (-4.5% YoY) |
| Homes sold | 2,075 (-3.2% YoY) |
| New listings | 2,730 |
| Active inventory | 11,334 (+15.0% YoY) |
| Months of supply | 5.5 |
| Median days on market | 75 |
| Sale-to-list ratio | 97.2% |
| Sold above asking | 11.3% |
| Listings with a price cut | 33.6% |
| 30-year fixed rate (avg) | 6.18% |
Why the Fed Cut and Your Rate Went Up
The Fed cut 50 basis points on September 18. Mortgage rates touched 6.08% and then went up. This confuses people every cycle: the Fed sets an overnight rate, and your mortgage prices off the 10-year Treasury and mortgage-backed securities, which move on inflation expectations. A Fed cut that markets already expected is already in your rate.
What changed since August 2024
The median fell $9,100 from August 2024, a 2.0% move. Time on market lengthened by 9 days, to 75. Active inventory shrank by 186 listings, to 11,334. The share of homes selling over asking gave up 0.2 points, to 11.3%.
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 2024 | August 2024 | September 2023 | Since Oct 2016 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Median sale price | $435,900 | $445,000 | $459,994 | range $255,626–$565,000 |
| Median days on market | 75 | 66 | 60 | range 16–85 |
| Active inventory | 11,334 | 11,520 | 9,855 | range 2,660–12,066 |
| Months of supply | 5.5 | 4.7 | 4.6 | highest since Oct 2016 |
| Sold above asking | 11% | 11% | 12% | range 9%–75% |
| 30-year fixed rate | 6.18% | 6.5% | 7.2% | 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 September 2024 falls against every month that came before it.
If you are buying in Austin right now
At 5.5 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 97.2% of asking, so roughly 2.8% under list was the normal outcome, not an insulting one.
The payment math. At $435,900 with 20% down at 6.18%, principal and interest runs about $2,131 a month. Add roughly $727 for property taxes and $291 for insurance and you are near $3,148 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 11,334 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
UT Area & Bryker Woods (78703 & 78705). West Campus, Bryker Woods, Old West Austin. Known for uT-adjacent investment potential. It fits investors and buyers who want to be in the center of everything.
The metro numbers above are an average of a very unequal city, UT Area & Bryker Woods 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/ut-area-bryker-woods/, including what is wrong with it.
On in Austin, September 2024
| When | What | Why it matters to a listing |
|---|---|---|
| Sep 28–29 | 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
The November 5 election. And the seasonal fourth quarter, which with 11,000 listings on the market is going to favor buyers considerably.
Common questions
Is Austin a buyer's market or a seller's market?
In September 2024, a buyer's market, 5.5 months of supply, with 11% 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 5.5 in September 2024.
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 September 2024 was $435,900. 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.
Part of a retrospective series on the Austin market, one post per month since 2016, compiled from the historical record. This edition covers September 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.