Find the right real estate agent in Austin.

Austin's housing market is undergoing the most significant correction of any major US metro, and that is creating the best buying conditions the city has seen since before the pandemic. After home values surged roughly 60% from 2020 to 2022, driven by a tsunami of tech-worker migration from California and the Northeast, prices have pulled back meaningfully. The $450,000 median is down 2.3% year-over-year, inventory has climbed to 5.4 months, and homes average 96 days on market. Price reductions are common, sellers are negotiating on closing costs and repairs, and the panic-buying frenzy that defined Austin real estate for years has evaporated. For sellers, the market still rewards accurate pricing and quality presentation, but overpricing by even 5% gets punished with months of sitting.

The economic engine behind Austin's housing demand has not weakened, it has diversified. Tesla's Gigafactory and headquarters, Apple's $1 billion campus, Google's downtown office expansion, Oracle's relocated headquarters, Samsung's $17 billion semiconductor fab in Taylor (30 minutes north), and Dell Technologies in Round Rock create a tech employment corridor that rivals Silicon Valley in density if not in scale. The University of Texas at Austin generates a steady pipeline of engineering and business talent. State government adds 60,000+ jobs that are immune to tech cycles. The result is an economy with multiple pillars rather than a single-industry dependency, which means the housing market correction is about pricing, not about demand collapse.

The elephant in every Austin real estate conversation is property taxes. Texas has no state income tax, and that is the primary reason California and Northeast tech workers relocate here. But property taxes in the Austin metro range from 1.9% to 2.5% effective rate, among the highest in the nation. On a $450,000 home, that is $8,550-$11,250 per year, baked into monthly mortgage payments. MUD (Municipal Utility District) taxes in newer suburban developments like those in Cedar Park, Pflugerville, and Round Rock can add another 0.5-1.0%. The $100,000 homestead exemption for school district taxes (expanded by voters in 2023) helps primary residents, but the total tax burden still shocks relocators who compare Austin's sticker price to California without running the full monthly cost. An agent who builds total ownership cost, mortgage, property taxes, MUD taxes, HOA, insurance, into every showing prevents the most common Austin relocation mistake.