Austin housing market slowdown continues in first half of 2025

Austin’s housing market continued its gradual slowdown in the first half of 2025, good news for would-be buyers who have been facing one of the toughest markets in the country.

New data from the Austin Board of Realtors shows the median sale price in the Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos metro area declined 2.4% to $439,000 in the six months through June. The price decline came as the number of homes sold fell by 6.4% to 15,015, reflecting economic uncertainty that hit the market earlier this year after the Trump administration announced broad tariffs.

Sales were up slightly in June, though, signaling a moderating rate of decline that could reflect increasing buyer confidence.

“This is typically the time of the year where we start to see real estate gradually level out,” Realtors President Brandy Wuensch said Wednesday. “But it also continues to demonstrate that we’re having a stable market, and hopefully the end of the year should remain strong and steady.”

Pending listings dropped by 2.8% from the first half of 2024, suggesting that the trend toward a more buyer-friendly market will continue. Active listings jumped nearly 20% to 76,020, driving inventory levels to 5.5 months — just shy of the six-month threshold considered to signal a buyer’s market.

“Rising inventory is expanding buyer choice,” said Unlock MLS Research Advisor Vaike O’Grady.

Still, many buyers remain cautious due to prices and mortgage rates that, while declining recently, are still high historically.

“Buyers are a little bit more confident entering the market than they were a year ago, especially with the inventory,” Wuensch said. “Some are starting to be a little bit more open to that idea of not letting the interest rate affect them so much.”

Most seem to understand that prices could increase if sales pick up in response to lower rates, she said.

Through the week ended July 10, the national average for a 30-year mortgage was 6.72%. That was up slightly from the previous week but down from 6.89% in the same week a year ago.

For the month of June, the sales data also suggested the market’s path toward stabilization is continuing, with sales up slightly.

The number of closed sales in June rose by 0.5% to 2,762, while the median sale price held steady at $450,000, unchanged from a year ago.

But buyers were finding more inventory to choose from. For the first six months, the Realtors data shows a 43.6% jump in active listings to 17,662 homes and a 5.6% rise in pending sales to 2,760, indicating stronger seller and buyer activity heading into the second half.

For the month of June, inventory levels were also higher, increasing by 0.7 months to reach 5.5 months.

In the city of Austin during June, new home listings increased more than 4% to 1,721 and active home listings jumped a whopping 87% to 5,542. Months of inventory rose to 5.7. The number of homes sold was up nearly 11% to 961, with a median sale price of $590,000, unchanged from a year ago.

The market shifts, while mostly positive for buyers, are gradually putting buyers in a tougher position, O’Grady said.

“Sellers will need to remain flexible on pricing to maintain progress, particularly as affordability remains a significant hurdle for many first-time buyers,” she said.