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Austin Housing Market Report: September 2025, Buying a School Zone in a District That’s Consolidating

Mike Vilece · October 15, 2025 · 5 min read

The median Austin-area listing spent 89 days on the market in September 2025. Active inventory stood at 12,838 listings, up 13.3% year over year. The median sat 24.8% below the April 2022 peak of $565,000.

Austin market statistics, September 2025

Metric September 2025
Median sale price $425,000 (-2.5% YoY)
Median price per sq ft $209 (-2.6% YoY)
Homes sold 2,364 (+13.9% YoY)
New listings 2,703
Active inventory 12,838 (+13.3% YoY)
Months of supply 5.4
Median days on market 89
Sale-to-list ratio 96.8%
Sold above asking 11.1%
Listings with a price cut 36.6%
30-year fixed rate (avg) 6.35%

Buying a School Zone in a District That’s Consolidating

Days on market reached 89. Austin ISD, facing enrollment decline and a budget deficit, was working through school consolidation scenarios. If you are paying a premium for an attendance zone, understand that zones are redrawn by a board vote and the premium is not guaranteed. Round Rock, Leander, Eanes and Lake Travis face different versions of the same math.

What changed since August 2025

The median fell $25,000 from August 2025, a 5.6% move. Time on market lengthened by 11 days, to 89. Active inventory shrank by 589 listings, to 12,838. The share of homes selling over asking gave up 0.6 points, to 11.1%.

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 2025 August 2025 September 2024 Since Oct 2016
Median sale price $425,000 $450,000 $435,900 range $255,626–$565,000
Median days on market 89 78 75 range 16–99
Active inventory 12,838 13,427 11,334 range 2,660–14,231
Months of supply 5.4 5.5 5.5 range 0.9–5.9
Sold above asking 11% 12% 11% range 9%–75%
30-year fixed rate 6.35% 6.59% 6.18% 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 2025 falls against every month that came before it.

If you are buying in Austin right now

At 5.4 months of supply this is a buyer's market, and 89 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 96.8% of asking, so roughly 3.2% under list was the normal outcome, not an insulting one.

The payment math. At $425,000 with 20% down at 6.35%, principal and interest runs about $2,116 a month. Add roughly $708 for property taxes and $283 for insurance and you are near $3,107 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 12,838 active listings and 89 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

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, September 2025

When What Why it matters to a listing
Sep 27–28 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 4 election, with Proposition 13 raising the homestead exemption to $140,000 if it passes.

Common questions

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.

Are Austin home prices going up or down?

Down 2.5% year over year as of September 2025. Against the April 2022 peak of $565,000, the metro median is 24.8% 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.


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

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