How the Pandemic Impacted Austin Real Estate: A ZIP Code Breakdown

In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, the housing market in the U.S. is just about the hottest it’s ever been. Home prices are up, inventory has plummeted, and in some places the number of days a house remains on the market is down to single digits. 

Perhaps nowhere in the country is the market more competitive than in Austin, TX. The capital city of Texas has seen explosive growth in nearly every housing metric. Seasonally adjusted home sale prices were up 31% in March 2021 compared to March 2020. 

Though Austin has long been a sought-after location for both Texans and newcomers to the state, the pandemic shifted the area’s competition for homes into high gear. Our new analysis of the Austin area on a ZIP code level shows how the pandemic impacted homeownership across the city and in surrounding areas. 

How did Austin home ownership landscape change during the pandemic? This comparison of Austin in early 2020 to early 2021 tells the story.

Key takeaways: How the pandemic impacted Austin real estate

• Nearly every ZIP code in Austin has become more competitive: Of the 65 ZIP codes we measured, all but three saw at least some decrease in the median number of days that homes there stayed on the market. In some ZIPs, the median DOM (days on market) dropped from nearly three months to less than one week. 
• Areas just outside out Austin saw massive drops in DOM as the need for commuting decreased: There was a huge drop in DOM on the edges of commutable distances to Austin (such as Lago Vista) as Austin residents perhaps became more comfortable living further away from the city center. In a post-pandemic world where people may commute just one to three days a week, a long drive is no longer a deal breaker. 
• Sale prices for homes are up as much as 68% in some ZIP codes compared to pre-pandemic: In 29 ZIP codes, median sale prices for homes in Austin were over $100,000 more than they were in the months before the pandemic. 
• Austin’s northern and southwestern neighborhoods and suburbs became especially expensive: Communities such as Wimberley, West Lake Hills, and Leander all had massive jumps in median sale prices, and South Austin, Cedar Park, and Round Rock saw some of the largest increases in price per square foot in the area.

The 10 Austin ZIP codes with the biggest change in sale price

Sale prices for homes increased throughout the Austin area, though less so in areas east of the city. The nearby village of Wimberley saw some of the biggest changes in sale prices, but so did the fast growing suburbs of Buda, Hutto, and Leander. South and Southwest Austin also saw major increases.

*Percent change rounded to the nearest whole number.

The 10 Austin ZIP codes with the biggest change in days on market

The ZIP codes just north and to the southwest of Austin proper saw some of the biggest drops in the number of days that homes stayed on the market post-pandemic. This includes the little city of Lago Vista, the community of Cedar Creek, and Liberty Hill. 

Northwest Austin, North Austin, and Pflugerville were already quite competitive before the pandemic, and thus didn’t see the same enormous drop in DOM.

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The 10 Austin ZIP codes with the biggest change in price per square foot

While the very center of Austin didn’t see as drastic an increase in price per square foot, ZIP codes just north and south of downtown Austin saw the biggest jumps, as well as some outlying suburbs. The communities of Circle C Ranch and Shady Hollow saw major leaps in prices, as did Wimberley.

*Percent change rounded to the nearest whole number. 

Full data for every Austin ZIP code

The following is the full list of Austin ZIP codes we measured, and how their median sale prices, median prices per square foot, and median days on market changed from January-March 2020 to January-March 2021.

The bottom line

Buying a home has become a priority for many people, even if that means moving to areas where they might not have lived prior to the pandemic. Nothing has slowed down the pace of home buying in Austin: Even as the number of new daily COVID cases in Texas reached its peak this past winter, Austin-area home buyers were spending as much as 15% above asking price in some ZIP codes.

As homes in the Austin market — and in many other markets across the country — continue to sell at a blistering pace, buyers may want to consider whether 2021 is the best time to buy a home, and learn how to buy when the market is really hot.

Methodology

To create this report, Orchard analyzed transactions across all ZIP codes in the Austin MLS for two three-month periods: January to March of 2020, and January to March of 2021. All ZIP codes with at least 25 home sale transactions of single family homes and townhomes in both time frames were included in the analysis. For each metric, Orchard compared the difference between each time frame, and ranked ZIP codes based on either the total difference (for median DOM) or percent difference (for median sale prices and median price per square foot). 

Trevor Patch contributed to the data collection and analysis for this report.