Austin was the place to be for young professionals and families alike during COVID.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Americans flocked to a handful of Texas,\u00a0Florida<\/a>\u00a0and Arizona<\/a> hotspots for warm weather, lower taxes, and enough space to avoid lockdown<\/a> cabin fever.\u00a0<\/p>\n Now, it seems Austin’s newcomers have realized it isn’t the Southern metropolis paradise they thought it would be, and they’re packing up.\u00a0<\/p>\n Unfortunately, this trend came after builders developed thousands of new units to account for the sudden demand that popped up during the pandemic.\u00a0<\/p>\n With supply far outweighing demand, Austin has turned into a firm buyer\u2019s market – giving house hunters more options, more negotiating power and more time to shop around.\u00a0<\/p>\n One buyer who has benefited from the sorry state of Austin’s housing market<\/a> is a 23-year-old recent college graduate originally from Nigeria, who bought a house for herself and her two brothers.\u00a0<\/p>\n Austin was the place to be just a few years ago, but now it seems the Texan city is the place to avoid at all costs<\/p>\n Demand was high during the pandemic, so developers built more houses. Now, buyers are retreating while supply is mounting<\/p>\n The buyer managed to snap up a single-family home just 45 minutes outside of Austin for $392,000 – far below the national median sale price of $430,000.\u00a0<\/p>\n She told Realtor.com that the home has three bedrooms, outdoor space and a small guest house, which was an important factor for her mother.\u00a0<\/p>\n As the median age of first-time home buyers ticks up to 40, it’s very rare that someone fresh out of college is able to afford a house in a major city. This sale is a testament to the affordability offered in Austin, at the expense of the city’s housing market and the equity of homeowners.\u00a0<\/p>\n Realtor.com’s January Housing Report <\/a>found that Austin’s median list price currently sits at $455,000 for the entire metro area – a steep 8 percent drop from the same time last year.\u00a0<\/p>\n Homes are also spending more time on the market, with the median days on market increasing by ten days.\u00a0<\/p>\n Meanwhile, many people – including public figures such as conservative podcaster Joe Rogan and comedian and MMA fighter Brendan Schaub – are leaving Austin<\/a>, and they’re not doing so quietly.<\/p>\n All of these factors have created the perfect storm for Austin’s housing market.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n To call the market ‘unbalanced’ would be an understatement, Redfin’s chief economist, Daryl Fairweather, told the Daily Mail.\u00a0<\/p>\n During the pandemic, Austin offered vast properties with small price tags in a place without income tax or strict COVID lockdowns<\/p>\n A recent college grad managed to snap up a single-family home just 45 minutes outside of Austin for $392,000 – far below the national median sale price of $430,000 (file image)<\/p>\n ‘Austin is the most extreme example of a market that overheated during the pandemic and is now correcting,’ Fairweather said. ‘Builders added a lot of supply when demand was red-hot, and many homeowners who locked in low mortgage rates are now trying to sell into a slower market.’\u00a0<\/p>\n Indeed, there are 10,000 more homes on sale than there are people looking to purchase in Austin, according to Redfin – making it the strongest buyer’s market in the country.\u00a0<\/p>\n Aside from being the strongest buyer’s market, Austin has also seen the steepest drop in prices of all major US cities.<\/a> Prices have plunged 7.3 percent over the past year to $462,000 – far more drastic than the 0.6 percent drop seen on a national level.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n![\"Austin](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/105708115-15650907-Austin_pictured_was_the_place_to_be_just_a_few_years_ago_but_now-a-4_177369211018.jpeg\")
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