Austin among top housing markets to watch in 2019, according to Trulia
It’s getting harder to buy a starter home in an area teeming with young people
Austin is one of the top housing markets to watch next year, according to a Nov. 29 report from real estate website Trulia Inc.
The analysis highlights 10 metros poised for meteoric growth in 2019. Austin ranks No. 5, behind Colorado Springs, Colo.; Grand Rapids, Mich.; Jacksonville, Fla. and Bakersfield, Calif. Only one other Texas city, El Paso, made the list at No. 9.
Trulia measured the housing markets in the 100 largest U.S. metros by employment growth, residential vacancy rates, the median listing price of starter homes, the share of the population under 35 and Trulia website data on home searches.
Austin performed well on most of those metrics with a low vacancy rate and high job growth, ranking 12th and 14th respectively. And Austin ranked fourth in population below the age of 35. Austin outperformed all the other housing market cities in the top 10 in terms of the vacancy rate and young population.
But Austin ranked poorly on starter home affordability, coming in at No. 79. That was also the second-worst among the top 10 housing markets behind Fresno, Calif.
Trulia also named the “hottest neighborhood” in each of the top 10 housing markets based on year-over-year changes in home values, as well as the median number of days homes were on the market and how that rate changed in the last year.
An area of Southeast Austin just west of the airport, near U.S. Highway 183 and State Highway 71, earned the nod. In that neighborhood, home prices jumped 16 percent year-over-year and were on the market a median of 43 days, which was five days fewer than the previous year.
It’s important to note that neighborhood is in an area where many long-time residents are being forced out because of ballooning property values and the property taxes that come with them, according to city data on residential displacement based off the University of Texas’ recent study on gentrification.
Indeed, the cycle of rising property values, priced-out residents and gentrifying neighborhoods is one of the key issues Austin faces as a growing city.
Trulia’s full report on the 2019 housing market can be found here.