Austin housing market: prices firm, listings shrink, and taxes move into focus, July 2026

Austin's June data looks firmer than the spring snapshot, but the market is still carrying a meaningful affordability constraint. The City of Austin median sale price rose to $605,000, up 3.6% from June 2025, while active listings fell 22.1% to 4,665. Pending sales rose 16.5% to 1,024, and the city's inventory reading fell to 4.3 months. 1

The June MLS figures below come from a July 14 republication that attributes its tables to Unlock MLS. The official Unlock MLS page confirms the report title and date but does not expose the numeric tables in the page text, so the attribution and access limitation matter when reading the numbers.

The $605,000 Austin city median is a one-month June measure. Redfin's latest visible city page uses a different window, the three months ending in May, and shows a $542,460 median, down 2.3% year over year. It also shows homes selling in 48 days. 4

Those figures are not a clean contradiction. A single month can contain a different mix of neighborhoods, home sizes, and price bands than a rolling three-month sample. Zillow adds a third lens: its typical Austin home value was $507,622 on June 30, down 5.0% over the prior year, with homes going pending in about 39 days. 2

For sellers, June's city median is evidence that well-positioned homes can still clear above last year's level. It is not a reason to price from the median alone. Buyers should compare the current listing's condition and neighborhood with the competition, not assume that a higher city median means every Austin home has recovered.

Austin city closed 1,054 homes in June, up 4.6% year over year. New listings fell 3.3% to 1,665, while pending sales rose 16.5% to 1,024. The average close-to-list ratio also improved to 94.5%, from 93.6% a year earlier. 1

That combination explains why active listings can fall even while buyers remain price-sensitive. Fewer new listings are arriving, and more contracts are forming. The 4.3-month inventory reading is still a supply measure with room for choice, but the direction is different from the inventory build that dominated Austin's correction.

The metro picture is similar but less tight. The Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos MSA posted a $450,000 June median, up 1.1% year over year, with 13,245 active listings, down 14.8%, and 4.4 months of inventory, down one month. Pending sales rose 13.2% to 2,994. 1

Freddie Mac's July 16 survey put the 30-year fixed average at 6.55%, up from 6.49% the week before but below 6.75% a year earlier. The 15-year average was 5.93%, up from 5.82% a week earlier and almost unchanged from 5.92% a year earlier. 3

Using the $605,000 city median as a simple example, a 20% down payment leaves a $484,000 loan. Principal and interest at 6.55% is about $3,075 per month on a 30-year schedule, before taxes, insurance, HOA dues, and mortgage insurance. At last year's 6.75% rate, the same loan would be about $64 more per month. The improvement is measurable, but it does not turn an expensive home into an inexpensive one.

Austin Development Services updated its HOME Phase 1 application data on July 6. The page reports 829 applications reviewed, 657 approved, 1,309 new units approved, and seven uses of the Preservation Bonus. HOME Phase 1 allows up to three housing units, including tiny homes, on SF-1, SF-2, and SF-3 properties; those totals describe approved applications and units, not completed homes or a guaranteed affordability impact. 5

The more immediate cost signal is Austin's proposed FY 2026-27 budget. City Manager T.C. Broadnax presented a proposed property-tax rate of $0.57953 per $100 of assessed value. The city says the typical homeowner would pay $14.49 more per month, or $173.87 more per year, in the City's portion of the bill. The proposal remains subject to council review, public input, amendments, and final adoption beginning August 12. 6

That matters differently for each side of the transaction. Buyers need to underwrite the full monthly payment, not the mortgage rate alone. Owners deciding whether to sell or hold should add the proposed tax change to insurance, maintenance, and financing costs. Austin's June market is more active and less oversupplied than a year ago, but the carrying-cost test has not gone away.