Austin Housing Market Stabilizes After Two-Year Correction
Austin home prices ticked up 0.4% year-over-year in March after two years of declines, suggesting the metro's correction may be nearing its end.
Austin's housing market posted its first year-over-year price increase in 24 months in March, suggesting the Texas capital's multiyear correction is approaching a bottom. The median sale price in the Austin-Round Rock-Georgetown metropolitan area reached $453,800, up 0.4% from March 2025, according to the Austin Board of Realtors.
The data marks a turning point for a market that had led the U.S. in both post-pandemic appreciation and subsequent correction. Austin prices peaked in May 2022 at $555,000 before falling for 22 consecutive months. Cumulative decline from peak reached 18.2% by March 2025, the sharpest correction among the 50 largest U.S. metros.
"Austin is no longer the outlier on the downside," said Kent Redding, 2026 president of the Austin Board of Realtors. Redding cited moderating inventory growth, strong underlying employment, and renewed interest from California and East Coast transplants as factors in the stabilization.
Active listings stood at 10,641 units at the end of March, up 3% year-over-year but down from the 18% annual gain reported a year ago. Months of inventory measured 4.9, compared with 5.7 in March 2025. Properties averaged 52 days on market, down from 62 a year earlier.
Employment data from the Texas Workforce Commission showed Austin metro added 18,900 jobs over the 12 months ending February, led by healthcare, construction, and state government. Major tech employers including Tesla, Oracle, and Apple continue to add Austin-based roles, although at a slower pace than during the 2021 to 2022 boom.
Builders remain cautious. The Home Builders Association of Greater Austin reported 9,842 single-family permits issued in the 12 months ending March, down 14% from the prior period. Sheryl Palmer, CEO of Taylor Morrison, told analysts during the company's January earnings call that Austin is "returning to a more normal rhythm" but margins remain below other Texas submarkets.
Rental conditions tell a more nuanced story. Apartment List data showed Austin apartment rents fell 3.2% year-over-year through February, continuing declines tied to heavy multifamily deliveries in 2022 through 2024. Vacancy stood at 7.8%, the highest among Texas major metros. Single-family rental growth, in contrast, turned positive at 1.1% in the CoreLogic index.
