FIELD NOTES / MARKET DATA
Austin home prices, October 2026: the median is $412,000 sold, $446,450 listed and $560,000 in the city
Austin home prices depend on which number you read: the median sale price across the Austin–Round Rock–San Marcos metro was $412,000 in August 2026 and $560,000 inside the City of Austin, according to Unlock MLS's report released September 15, 2026, while Realtor.com's median listing price for the metro in September 2026, published October 1, was $446,450, down 9.8% in a year. Zillow's typical home value for the City of Austin was $497,418 for August 2026. This post explains why the figures differ, gives the average as well as the median, and breaks September prices out by ZIP code and suburb.
By David Eimer · Austin Journal · 9 minute read · Published
The numbers
- Median sale price, Austin metro
- $412,000As of August 2026
Down 6.4% year over year; 2,501 closed sales.
Source: Unlock MLS ↗
- Median sale price, City of Austin
- $560,000As of August 2026
Down 4.3% year over year; 844 closed sales.
Source: Unlock MLS ↗
- Median listing price, Austin metro
- $446,450As of September 2026
Down 9.8% year over year; $622,445 in June 2022, so 28.3% lower (computed).
Source: Realtor.com Economic Research ↗
- Average listing price, Austin metro
- $698,730As of September 2026
Down 7.2% year over year; the average sits far above the median because a few very expensive homes pull it up.
Source: Realtor.com Economic Research ↗
- Median listing price per square foot, Austin metro
- $228As of September 2026
Down 8.4% year over year; $294 in June 2022.
Source: Realtor.com Economic Research ↗
- Typical home value, City of Austin (Zillow ZHVI)
- $497,418As of August 2026
A modeled value, not a sale price; down 3.7% from $516,564 a year earlier (computed).
Source: Zillow Research ↗
What is the median home price in Austin right now?
The median home price in Austin was $412,000 for the metro and $560,000 for the City of Austin in August 2026, the latest month of closed sales. Both figures come from Unlock MLS's August 2026 Central Texas Housing Report, released September 15, 2026: the metro median fell 6.4% from a year earlier on 2,501 closed sales, and the city median fell 4.3% on 844 sales. Travis County, reported separately, was $489,000 on 1,111 sales.
The newest price signal is the asking price. Realtor.com's monthly inventory data for September 2026, published October 1, puts the median listing price for the Austin–Round Rock–San Marcos metro at $446,450, down 9.8% from September 2025 and down from $450,000 in August. Listing prices lead sale prices by a month or two, because a home listed in September usually closes in October or November. Unlock MLS's September report, which will show what those listings actually sold for, comes later; the August report came out on September 15.
The metro and city figures should never be blended. The metro takes in Williamson, Hays, Bastrop and Caldwell counties, where new subdivisions sell for far less per home than central Austin, so the metro median sits well below the city's. Quote the geography alongside the number, and use the one that matches where you are actually shopping.
Sources: Unlock MLS ↗ · Realtor.com Economic Research ↗
Why do Austin home price figures disagree?
Search "Austin home prices" and you can find $412,000, $446,450, $497,418 and $560,000 on the first page, and all four are correct. They differ on three things: what is being measured (a closed sale, an asking price or a computer-modeled value), the geography (the five-county metro or the City of Austin), and the month. A median sale price counts only the homes that closed that month; a median listing price covers everything on the market, including homes that have sat for months; and a value index estimates what every home would sell for, whether or not it is for sale.
Zillow's figure is the one most often quoted without its definition. The Zillow Home Value Index for the City of Austin was $497,418 for August 2026 in Zillow Research's public data, built from the middle third of homes by value (the file covers the 33rd to 67th percentile tier) and smoothed and seasonally adjusted. It is a model of a typical home's value, so it moves more slowly than monthly sale medians and will not match any MLS count.
The table puts the measures side by side with their dates and geographies. For a buying decision, the closed-sale median in your target area is the most useful; for pricing a listing this month, the asking-price data and the close-to-list ratio show what sellers are getting.
Austin home price measures, latest month for each
| Measure | Geography | Value | Month | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Median sale price | Austin metro | $412,000 | August 2026 | Unlock MLS |
| Median sale price | City of Austin | $560,000 | August 2026 | Unlock MLS |
| Median sale price | Travis County | $489,000 | August 2026 | Unlock MLS |
| Median listing price | Austin metro | $446,450 | September 2026 | Realtor.com |
| Average listing price | Austin metro | $698,730 | September 2026 | Realtor.com |
| Typical home value (ZHVI) | City of Austin | $497,418 | August 2026 | Zillow Research |
| Typical home value (ZHVI) | Austin metro | $417,977 | August 2026 | Zillow Research |
| House price index, 1-year change | Austin metro | +0.3% (computed) | Q2 2026 | FHFA via FRED |
Sources: Unlock MLS ↗ · Realtor.com Economic Research ↗ · Zillow Research ↗ · FRED ↗
What is the average home price in Austin?
The average listing price in the Austin metro was $698,730 in September 2026, down 7.2% in a year, per Realtor.com's monthly data, against a median listing price of $446,450. The average is 56.5% higher than the median by our computation. That gap is normal for housing: a small number of very expensive homes pull the average up, while the median is the middle home and is not moved by a single estate listing in western Travis County.
For homes that actually sold, Unlock MLS does not publish an average price, but its August 2026 report lists total dollar volume and closed sales, from which the average follows. The metro recorded $1,400,025,097 across 2,501 closed sales, an average of about $559,786 per sale; the City of Austin recorded $648,959,724 across 844 sales, about $768,910 per sale. Both are our computations from the release's figures, not numbers Unlock MLS states.
Use the median when someone asks what a typical Austin home costs, and the average only when the question is about total dollars changing hands. When a site quotes an "average home price" without saying which, it is usually a median or a modeled value under a different name.
Sources: Realtor.com Economic Research ↗ · Unlock MLS ↗
Are Austin home prices still falling, and how far are they from the 2022 peak?
Austin home prices are still falling on most measures, but slowly. Realtor.com's median listing price for the Austin metro peaked at $622,445 in June 2022, the highest month that Realtor.com did not flag as unusual (April and May 2022 carry its quality flag). September 2026's $446,450 is 28.3% below that peak and 23.7% above September 2019's $360,901, both by our computation. The median price per square foot fell from $294 to $228 over the same stretch, a 22.4% drop, while the median listed home's size stayed between about 2,000 and 2,150 square feet.
The FHFA all-transactions house price index for the Austin metro, which tracks repeat sales of the same homes, was 506.31 in the second quarter of 2026, 0.3% above a year earlier by our computation from the index values on FRED. A repeat-sales index and a median can disagree because the median also shifts when the mix of homes selling changes, for example when more smaller or outlying homes sell.
The table follows the metro each September since 2019. Supply is the clearest change: 12,083 active listings in September 2026 against 3,791 in September 2021, with homes taking a median 80 days on market instead of 28. None of this is a forecast; it is where the market stands.
Austin metro listings each September since 2019, with the June 2022 peak
| Month | Median listing price | Price per sq ft | Active listings | Median days on market |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| September 2019 | $360,901 | $168 | 7,638 | 55 |
| September 2020 | $415,495 | $203 | 4,175 | 49 |
| September 2021 | $546,975 | $263 | 3,791 | 28 |
| June 2022 (peak) | $622,445 | $294 | 5,602 | 21 |
| September 2022 | $559,089 | $273 | 8,490 | 51 |
| September 2023 | $556,450 | $271 | 8,722 | 58 |
| September 2024 | $519,975 | $260 | 10,704 | 72 |
| September 2025 | $495,000 | $249 | 11,910 | 79 |
| September 2026 | $446,450 | $228 | 12,083 | 80 |
Sources: Realtor.com Economic Research ↗ · FRED ↗
Austin home prices by ZIP code, September 2026
Inside Austin, the median listing price ranged from $285,100 in 78725 to $2,287,225 in 78746 in Realtor.com's September 2026 ZIP data. The table lists every Austin ZIP code with a clean reading for the month, highest first, with the change from a year earlier, the price per square foot and how many homes were listed. Price per square foot is often the fairer comparison, because the size of a typical listed home varies so much from ZIP to ZIP.
Several central ZIP codes are missing on purpose. Realtor.com flags a ZIP when a month's values fall outside its typical range and advises reviewing them before reporting; in September 2026 that included 78701, 78703, 78704, 78705, 78751, 78752, 78757 and others, so they are left out here rather than quoted on a reading the publisher itself questions. A ZIP code median also blends condos, townhomes and houses, so a ZIP with many condos can show a lower median than its single-family streets.
Treat any ZIP code median as a starting point. For a specific street, the comparable sales an agent pulls from the MLS, matched by size, age and lot, say far more than a ZIP-wide figure, and the property records check on the research page shows a home's appraisal history.
Austin ZIP codes by median listing price, September 2026 (ZIPs Realtor.com flagged for the month left out)
| ZIP | Median listing price | Change vs. Sept. 2025 | Price per sq ft | Active listings |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 78746 | $2,287,225 | −3.1% | $660 | 114 |
| 78731 | $1,137,500 | +11.9% | $412 | 111 |
| 78738 | $1,019,250 | +13.2% | $302 | 223 |
| 78737 | $911,500 | +4.2% | $277 | 89 |
| 78756 | $798,500 | +10.0% | $490 | 34 |
| 78739 | $791,000 | −2.9% | $296 | 46 |
| 78734 | $778,450 | +2.4% | $312 | 244 |
| 78726 | $699,925 | −6.6% | $258 | 41 |
| 78702 | $650,000 | −6.7% | $475 | 231 |
| 78736 | $632,225 | −5.3% | $309 | 36 |
| 78722 | $610,000 | +12.4% | $432 | 21 |
| 78759 | $609,500 | +1.7% | $307 | 104 |
| 78749 | $575,000 | +0.1% | $298 | 103 |
| 78717 | $550,000 | +0.3% | $231 | 102 |
| 78723 | $499,450 | −9.2% | $335 | 164 |
| 78721 | $483,500 | −0.7% | $339 | 93 |
| 78745 | $450,000 | −5.3% | $334 | 294 |
| 78727 | $448,000 | −7.1% | $259 | 82 |
| 78729 | $427,500 | −9.0% | $236 | 76 |
| 78748 | $412,500 | −6.0% | $225 | 162 |
| 78758 | $393,750 | +1.0% | $271 | 111 |
| 78744 | $383,723 | −0.1% | $216 | 138 |
| 78724 | $358,425 | −8.0% | $218 | 89 |
| 78747 | $354,245 | −8.0% | $201 | 123 |
| 78725 | $285,100 | −1.9% | $189 | 59 |
Sources: Realtor.com Economic Research ↗
Where are home prices lower around Austin?
Home prices fall with distance from central Austin in almost every direction. Unlock MLS's August 2026 county medians show the spread: Travis County $489,000, Williamson County $399,900, Hays County $355,000, Bastrop County $342,495 and Caldwell County $270,000. Bastrop and Caldwell counties also had the most supply, 7.4 and 7.3 months of inventory, against 4.6 in Williamson County.
Realtor.com's September 2026 ZIP data shows the same pattern by suburb. The lowest median listing prices among the main suburban ZIP codes were in Kyle (78640, $321,950) and Manor (78653, $331,990), with Leander's 78641 at $493,450 and Dripping Springs' 78620 at $831,000 at the top. Each suburb has its own city page with tax rates, utility districts and distance to downtown: Leander, Round Rock, Kyle and Georgetown among them.
A lower price does not always mean a lower monthly cost. Many newer suburban subdivisions sit inside municipal utility districts or public improvement districts that add a tax rate on top of the city, county and school district, so compare the full tax bill, not just the price.
Austin-area suburbs by ZIP code, median listing price, September 2026
| Suburb (ZIP) | Median listing price | Change vs. Sept. 2025 | Price per sq ft | Median days on market |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dripping Springs (78620) | $831,000 | −7.4% | $300 | 92 |
| Leander (78641) | $493,450 | −2.2% | $207 | 82 |
| Round Rock (78681) | $479,922 | −5.7% | $214 | 76 |
| Cedar Park (78613) | $477,750 | −5.3% | $213 | 67 |
| Georgetown (78633) | $457,570 | −4.9% | $206 | 69 |
| Round Rock (78665) | $409,950 | −8.9% | $187 | 72 |
| Bastrop (78602) | $399,500 | −7.0% | $205 | 84 |
| Georgetown (78626) | $365,000 | −6.2% | $191 | 74 |
| Buda (78610) | $363,620 | −1.6% | $179 | 73 |
| San Marcos (78666) | $354,358 | −4.4% | $197 | 88 |
| Round Rock (78664) | $351,250 | −6.3% | $196 | 71 |
| Hutto (78634) | $339,445 | −9.5% | $172 | 74 |
| Manor (78653) | $331,990 | −9.0% | $171 | 80 |
| Kyle (78640) | $321,950 | −6.2% | $167 | 80 |
Sources: Unlock MLS ↗ · Realtor.com Economic Research ↗
What does a median-priced Austin home cost per month?
At Freddie Mac's average 30-year fixed rate of 7.03% for the week of September 24, 2026, a $446,450 home bought with 20% down needs a $357,160 loan, and principal and interest run about $2,383 a month, our computation over 30 years. On the $412,000 metro median sale price the same terms give about $2,199 a month, and on the $560,000 City of Austin median about $2,990.
Property tax, homeowners insurance and any HOA dues come on top, and in Austin the tax is the biggest of the three. The Travis County property tax 2026 guide lists every adopted 2026 rate on a typical Austin bill and works a $500,000 example. Freddie Mac's rate is a national average for borrowers with strong credit and 20% down; your own quote can differ by credit, loan type, points and lock period.
To run the payment on a real listing, with that address's tax and HOA, use the mortgage estimator on the homes page. A small change in rate moves the payment more than most negotiations move the price: on a $357,160 loan, each quarter point is roughly $60 a month.
Sources: Freddie Mac ↗ · Realtor.com Economic Research ↗ · Unlock MLS ↗
What should Austin buyers and sellers do with October's price numbers?
For buyers, the numbers say there is room to negotiate. Austin metro homes closed at an average of 93.2% of list price in August 2026, Unlock MLS's close-to-list ratio, and Realtor.com counted 27.3% of metro listings with a price cut in September 2026. With 12,083 active listings and an 80-day median on market, a buyer can ask for a price reduction, closing-cost help or a rate buydown, and can take the time to research a home's flood risk, permits and tax history before making an offer.
For sellers, the asking price has to be built from closed sales on comparable homes, not from the 2022 peak or from a ZIP code median. Homes priced from the current comparables sell; homes priced above them tend to join the more than a quarter of listings that take a price cut. The Austin market data page is updated monthly with the newest release.
David Eimer can pull the closed comparable sales for a specific street, compare a list price against what similar homes sold for this year, and walk through what a given price means per month at current rates. Bring an address or a ZIP code and the question.
Sources: Unlock MLS ↗ · Realtor.com Economic Research ↗
Common questions
What is the average home price in Austin, Texas?
The average listing price in the Austin metro was $698,730 in September 2026, per Realtor.com, while the median listing price was $446,450. For closed sales, Unlock MLS's August 2026 figures work out to an average of about $559,786 across the metro and about $768,910 in the City of Austin (our computation from dollar volume and sales). The median, $412,000 metro and $560,000 city, is the better guide to a typical home.
Are home prices dropping in Austin?
Yes, on most measures. The Austin metro's median sale price was down 6.4% year over year in August 2026 (Unlock MLS), and the median listing price was down 9.8% in September 2026 (Realtor.com), 28.3% below the June 2022 peak by our computation. The FHFA repeat-sales index was roughly flat, up 0.3% in the year to the second quarter of 2026.
What is the median home price in the City of Austin versus the metro?
In August 2026 the median sale price was $560,000 inside the City of Austin and $412,000 across the Austin–Round Rock–San Marcos metro, according to Unlock MLS. Travis County's median was $489,000, Williamson County's $399,900 and Hays County's $355,000. The metro figure is lower because it includes the outlying counties.
Why is Zillow's Austin home value different from the MLS median?
Zillow's $497,418 for the City of Austin in August 2026 is the Zillow Home Value Index, a modeled, smoothed value for typical homes, not a count of sales. The MLS median of $560,000 for the city is the middle price of the 844 homes that actually closed that month. They measure different things, so they will rarely match.
What is the price per square foot for homes in Austin?
The median listing price per square foot in the Austin metro was $228 in September 2026, down 8.4% in a year, per Realtor.com. Among the Austin and main suburban ZIP codes with a clean reading that month, it ranged from $167 in Kyle's 78640 to $660 in 78746. The metro figure peaked at $294 in June 2022.
Take this to your next conversation
- Name the measure and geography before quoting any Austin home price: sale, list or modeled value; metro, county or city.
- Compare homes on price per square foot within the same ZIP code, then confirm with closed comparable sales on the street.
- Check whether a suburban subdivision sits in a MUD or PID before comparing its price with a city home.
- Price the monthly payment at today's rate on the actual address, with that parcel's tax rates, before setting a budget.
- Sellers: set the list price from this year's closed comparables, not from 2022 or a ZIP-wide median.
Sources and review date
Sources checked . Planning suggestions are editorial guidance; current property facts and requirements need an address-specific check.
- Unlock MLS: August 2026 Central Texas Housing Report, released September 15, 2026 ↗
- Realtor.com Economic Research: monthly inventory core metrics by metro, September 2026 (CSV, published October 1, 2026) ↗
- Realtor.com Economic Research: monthly inventory core metrics by metro, history since 2016 (CSV) ↗
- Realtor.com Economic Research: monthly inventory core metrics by ZIP code, September 2026 (CSV) ↗
- Realtor.com Economic Research: housing data (methodology and quality flags) ↗
- Zillow Research: Zillow Home Value Index, all homes, middle tier, smoothed and seasonally adjusted, by city (CSV) ↗
- Zillow Research: Zillow Home Value Index, all homes, middle tier, smoothed and seasonally adjusted, by metro (CSV) ↗
- FRED: FHFA all-transactions house price index, Austin metro (ATNHPIUS12420Q) ↗
- Freddie Mac: Primary Mortgage Market Survey, week of September 24, 2026 ↗