The market is holding strong and we're not seeing any sign of things cooling off. Why would we really when we're heading into the busiest season of the year? Austin's real estate market is consistently cyclical. In a "normal market" we can expect business to increase over the summer months with a peak in early fall as families get settled in to their new homes in time for the next school year. Things really slow down in November and don't get going again until after the new year.
One of the big issues facing Austin right now is housing affordability. The average home price in Austin now is about $225,000. Austin is a very price segmented city, so that number doesn't represent reality for those who really want to live in Austin's Core. If you want to live downtown, you'd better just about double that for anything of a reasonable size. Austin's suburbs are still amazingly inexpensive. The problem is that we are a medium sized city that still wants to be a small town. We don't have the infrastructure to get the our population to and from work on a daily basis without huge traffic jams. So, the suburbs remain inexpensive because the commute is difficult and prices in central Austin skyrocket. To give you an idea of the disparity, you don't have to travel too far to find homes for $75 per square foot, however central Austin starts at about $200/ foot. I've even seen smaller homes at over $400/foot in Cherrywood, where I live. Crazy
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