November 2021 Austin Housing Market Report

As we wind down on a record-breaking year, the Austin real estate market continues to make headlines. A recent New York Times article about the Capital City posed the question: “Will Real Estate Ever Be Normal Again?” With the right REALTOR®, buyers and sellers can feel empowered to make sense of one of 2021’s hottest markets. 

According to the Austin Board of REALTORS® (ABoR), the median sales price grew 29% year-over-year, coming in at $470,000—setting a record for the month of November. New listings increased 0.6% to 2,950, while active listings decreased 0.2% year-over-year to 2,768. Monthly housing inventory dipped 0.1 months of inventory to 0.8 months, and homes spent an average of 22 days on the market, down 13 days when compared to November 2020.

“We have all seen the headlines about our housing market and the Austin Board of REALTORS® knows that it is competitive, however, when you dig a little deeper, you can see that there is plenty of opportunities and our market is still readily accessible for homebuyers across all price levels,” says 2021 ABoR president Susan Horton.

Because interest in living in Austin continues to rise, the demand for homes in Austin is high. According to the 2021-2022 U.S. World & News Report, Austin ranks fifth out of 150 in terms of quality of life. With the influx of major companies, lively culture, and sunny weather, it’s easy to see why people want to call Austin home. According to Horton, the real estate market serves to contribute to the economic growth across the region.

The pandemic, global supply chain issues, and labor shortages in 2021 shook up plans for many buyers and sellers. Over the past few months, we have seen these cause delays for construction. But with the completion of new builds beginning to resolve, more people will be able to move into their completed homes and finally put the home they are leaving on the market.

According to KERA News, the frenzied pace of the city’s real estate market seems to be slowly calming down as well. A normal housing market would see about six months of inventory, but Austin frequently fell below one month of inventory in 2021 according to Luis Torres, a research economist at Texas A&M University’s Real Estate Research Center.

“This doesn’t mean there isn’t work to be done to ensure everyone has equal opportunity to find a home here, but it does demonstrate that by working with a licensed REALTOR®, homebuyers and renters can find something that works for their budget and housing needs,” says Horton.

Now is the time to start working with an agent to sell your home in order to get the best dollar value, and it’s also a great time to start analyzing your budget in order to see the opportunities available to you. Should you find a listing that interests you, our agents can help you start the homebuying process.