Volume of home sales in Austin metro-area more than doubled this Oct

The volume of home sales in the Austin metro-area more than doubled in October 2020, compared to October 2019, according to the Austin Board of Realtors. 

This October, Romeo Manzanilla president of the Austin Board of Realtors says the Austin metropolitan-area saw an almost 30 percent increase in home sales. “But more impressive was the fact that the sales volume increased 55.3 percent and this is compared to October of 2019,” he said. 

The growth is causing home prices to increase. In the City of Austin, the median home price is more than $440,000.

Still, Manzanilla says the real boom is in the suburbs. “Williamson County, Bastrop County, Hays County -- those areas are experiencing growth that even exceeds what Austin is experiencing from a percentage standpoint and I think that’s indicative of the fact that we’re starting to see this trend of urban sprawl,” he explained. 

Jake Wegmann, a UT Austin faculty member with the community regional planning program believes the pandemic is feeding the market as fewer people want to leave their homes. “So there are a lot fewer houses on the market this year than there were last year,” he said. 

As supply decreases, demand increases with renters, and those in smaller homes looking for larger spaces to work, and even teach their children. “People are looking for homes with flexible spaces,” said Manzanilla 

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This comes as tech giants flee pricier states like California and New York, expanding in, or moving to Texas. Notably, Tesla is building a factory in Austin, and Apple is expanding operations. 

“Once you become a real tech hub, then there’s sort of a dynamic where the growth feeds on itself to some extent,” said Wegmann.

Despite the ‘tech-odus,’ Manzanilla says Texans still overwhelmingly represent home buyers in the Austin-area. Many buyers come from Houston as the economy struggles due to the low price of oil. 

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