From Bidding Wars to Bargains—How Austin’s Housing Market Became a Buyer’s Market

Austin, TX, once the poster child of America’s pandemic housing boom, has flipped into a buyer’s market.

After years of surging demand and record-setting prices fueled by remote workers and tech transplants, the tide has turned. Listings are piling up, prices have retreated from their peak, and affordability—long a sore point in the city—is starting to improve.

Nationally, the housing market has reached a balance of five months of supply—the first summer to do so since Realtor.com® began tracking this data nine years ago, according to the August 2025 Monthly Housing Market Trends report.

While local dynamics vary across the country, Austin’s trajectory underscores a broader theme in real estate: the pendulum swing between seller and buyer advantage. The city is also among seven of the 50 biggest metros to shift to a buyer's market.

The switch in Austin marks a stark reversal for one of the nation’s fastest-growing metros. Just a few years ago, Austin was synonymous with bidding wars, cash offers, and homes selling within days.

Now, sellers are competing for attention as elevated mortgage rates slow demand and more inventory hits the market. For buyers, that means more choices, greater negotiating power, and a chance to enter a market that had seemed out of reach during the boom.

How the pandemic boom shaped the Austin market

During the pandemic, many people flocked to Lone Star State cities for the lower cost of living compared with major metros in California and New York.

The other appeal is that Texas is a state with no income tax, and cities there lifted pandemic regulations before many other major municipalities. The pandemic's remote work lifestyle allowed many people to vacate their expensive cities for a more affordable life in Texas with fewer limitations. 

Austin also set itself apart from other major metros with a boost from its growing startup and tech sector. Other Texas cities have strong economies as well, but tend to focus more on oil and gas, finance, or tourism. Austin was able to garner a world-class startup energy, thanks to a fantastic talent pipeline and the University of Texas at Austin. 

Many large corporations took advantage of Austin's ecosystem such as Apple, Google, Meta, and Amazon. The intangibles were also a significant draw for attracting flocks of new residents. Austin’s live music, vibrant food scene, and reputation for being quirky and creative were a blend that couldn’t be found anywhere else.

From rapid expansion to cooling demand

The rapid influx of high-income earners and tech giants prompted Austin to quickly expand to accommodate the surge of new residents. However, the surge started to die down while the building momentum was still pushing forward. 

More balance also means more choice. A balanced housing market typically has a supply of 4 to 6 months, with a buyer’s market often beginning around 6 months, meaning that it would take 6 months to exhaust the current inventory of homes for sale.

Crossing the 6-month threshold is associated with a more buyer-friendly market. Austin currently sits at 7.1 months of inventory, up 2.8 months from last year, compared with 5.0 months nationally.

Active listings in Austin are up 20.1% year over year and are now 50.2% higher than pre-pandemic levels, joining just two other metros, Denver (up 64.2%) and San Antonio (up 53.4%), among the 50 largest to have for-sale inventory above this benchmark.

Homes are also staying on the market longer, giving buyers more breathing room. While demand has cooled, population growth and robust new construction have contributed significantly to the rise in inventory.

Prices are retreating—improving affordability

Since August 2022, Austin's median list price has fallen 13.2%. More recently, median list prices per square foot are down 3.5% year over year, a significant drop among the nation’s top 50 metros. Price reductions remain common, creating opportunities for buyers who may have been priced out just two years ago.

Affordability conditions are moving in the right direction across much of the Austin metro. The latest Realtor.com Affordability Score shows that Austin’s metro score climbed to 0.60 in June 2025, up from 0.51 a year earlier. This improvement is fueled by a 4.5% decline in the median listing price, now at $499,000. While still above the national median of $429,990, Austin is becoming more approachable for many buyers.

Travis County, Austin’s most central county, saw a sharp jump in affordability, rising from 0.45 to 0.57, helped by a 6.7% drop in listing prices, the steepest among the metro's major counties. Williamson County improved from 0.61 to 0.69, with prices down 3.5%.

New construction is playing a significant role in improving the availability and affordability of homes. Nearly a quarter (24.2%) of all for-sale listings in Austin are newly built, compared with 17.3% nationally. Even more notable, new homes in Austin are listed at a 7.2% discount compared with existing homes, whereas new builds typically cost 10.5% more nationally.

The luxury market is elevated but cooling

Austin’s luxury segment remains high priced but is seeing subtle shifts. The 90th percentile listing price is $1.32 million, about 5.8% higher than the national benchmark of $1.24 million.

Million-dollar listings are down 1.7% year over year, slower than the national pace of a 16.8% increase. Luxury homes are also moving slightly slower in Austin, with median days on market up 4.4% year over year.

Currently, there are 116 active listings priced at $5 million or more, primarily located in ZIP codes such as 78746 (Westlake Hills), 78733 (Cuernavaca/Lake Austin), and 78703 (Tarrytown).

Hottest ZIP codes and latest trends

ZIP 78739 (Circle C and Shady Hollow) was the metro’s hottest ZIP in the first half of 2025, with a median listing price of $829,450, down 3.8% from last year. Homes here sold in 33 days—nearly three weeks faster than the national norm.

On the other hand, ZIP 78616 (Dale) saw the least demand, while ZIP 76527 (Florence) had the longest median time on market at 133 days. Across the metro, views per property varied widely, from just 12% of the national norm in cooler eastern ZIPs to 39% above the national norm in western areas like Steiner Ranch (78732).

Renters have the upper hand

Rental trends in Austin are favorable. As of July 2025, the median asking rent for 0-2 bedroom units is $1,460, which is 5.3% lower than a year ago and well below the national median of $1,712. Renting remains considerably cheaper than buying; the cost of purchasing a starter home exceeds renting by $1,683 per month.

Who's moving in and out

Online traffic data shows that 39.9% of shoppers looking for homes in Austin are local, while 32% come from other parts of Texas and 25.5% are out-of-state. Dallas tops the list of inbound interest, followed by Chicago and San Antonio.

Conversely, 59% of Austin-based shoppers are looking outside the metro, with San Antonio, Dallas, and Houston among the most popular destinations. Out of state, Miami and Denver attract the most attention.

The bottom line for buyers

Austin’s housing market is offering buyers something they haven’t seen in years: leverage.

With growing inventory, falling prices, and improving affordability, it’s a good time to revisit homes that were previously out of reach.