Don’t let the median price of a home in the Austin area fool you. It is true that the median value of homes in the Austin area is lower than the national average. However, this can be a bit deceiving.
Almost 20,000 residences sold in the Austin real estate market area in 2010. The median sold price was $188,000, average days on market (DOM) was 73, the average sold price was $245,546 and the average sold price to original list price was just over 93%. Having said that, we need a little more in-depth look into the numbers because they includes all residential properties - single-family homes, townhomes, condos, duplexes, mobile homes and manufactured homes.
When looking at just single-family homes, which make up the largest part of the Austin real estate market, I found 17,681 single family homes having been sold in the Austin area during 2010. The median sold price was $195,000, the average days on market (DOM) was 73, the average sold price was $255,076 and the average sold price to original list price was just over 93%.
Comparing 2010 to 2009, almost 19,000 single-family homes sold in the Austin area in 2009. In 2010 there was actually a 5% decrease in home sales. The median price for a home sold in Austin in 2010 decreased by $219, which is statistically meaningless. So even though sales were slightly lower, the prices were about the same as 2009. If you study other metro areas in the country, 2010 was actually pretty good for Austin.
Over the last few years, I have talked with a number of people relocating to Austin from California, Phoenix, Florida, New York, Washington state and other areas. Many have thought they could pick up a pretty nice home for a relatively low price. This is where the misconception comes in about the median and average price of an Austin home.
Getting back to the median price of an Austin home, we need to look at different parts of the Austin area. There are parts of Austin in which homes really are pretty inexpensive. This includes much of Cedar Park Leander, Round Rock, areas in East Austin, areas east and northeast of the Austin city limits and much of South Austin and outlying areas south and southeast of Austin. These are all areas in which home sales are tracked by the Austin Board of REALTORS®. This includes the counties of Travis, Williamson, most of Hays and parts of surrounding Counties. This is a lot of ground to cover and there are a huge number of homes in these areas.
One thing that attracts many people to the Austin area is the Central Texas Hill Country. This includes much of the Western Travis County and Dripping Springs area. If you take a look at an Austin MLS map , this includes Areas 8E, 8W, W, LS, RN LS, LS, HD and HH. These areas contain few homes that are valued close to the median price stated earlier. These areas also do not have as many homes in the areas previously mentioned.
Let’s look at these area and do some comparing – and this will be generalized information. Cedar Park, Leander, Round Rock, Buda, Hutto, Bastrop and other outlying suburbs not in the Hill Country are generally pretty inexpensive. It is not uncommon to see new homes priced well under $100 in these areas.
However, if you look closer to downtown, west of Lake Austin and in the Lake Travis area, things change. The difference proximity to downtown and UT and the hills and lakes to the west. Because of the dramatic Hill Country and lake views and proximity to lakes, homes in these areas are far more expensive. Waterfront homes, for example, can easily see prices of $350-$500 per square foot.
Getting back to people relocating from expensive areas to Austin, many of these buyers look at median and average prices in Austin and thing they can get into a Hill Country or lake view home for $300,000 and this is completely unrealistic.
Just as in any other metropolitan area, real estate is very local. If you are thinking of moving to the Austin area, please give me a call at 512-293-2422 to get an idea of real estate prices in different parts of the area.
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