Now, After the Building Spree, Top Texas Cities Are Full-Blown Buyers’ Markets

Some market watchers say Texas has the best prices in the country for home buyers at the moment.

The Redfin real estate group is one of them. Redfin says there are many more homes for sale in Austin than potential buyers. Home prices are now back to where they were five years ago in the Texas capital. The company says the median Austin home sale price was $508K in September. That’s 9% under the prices of last September.

In May 2022, the median reached a lofty $665K. Remember those two years following Covid’s arrival? People flowed into Austin. The migration was propelled by new remote work policies, new jobs in the tech sector, and that special cultural magnetism that Austin’s had for years.

Similar price dips are unfolding in other Texas cities, especially San Antonio. For supply-versus-demand ratio, Austin and San Antonio are now the top two U.S. cities.

The #3 spot belongs to Dallas-Fort Worth. Houston is next. Dallas has nearly twice the number of listings as it has buyers. Houston has 43% more listings than active home seekers.

A Brief Dive Into the Top Two U.S. Buyers’ Markets

How are things looking in Austin and San Antonio? In the top two buyers’ markets, people in the position to take real estate off sellers’ hands can now call the shots. They’re negotiating, keeping their contingencies, and making better deals overall than buyers made last year.  

Here’s how Redfin breaks down the top two, in late 2025:

• San Antonio has about 18,500 sellers currently, with just about 8,500 active buyers.

• San Antonio’s median sale price is about $303K, down more than half a percent from last year at this time.

• Austin has just over 17,000 sellers and about 8,000 active buyers. The  median price of homes for sale in Austin is about $450K. That’s up about 2%, year over year.

By comparison, the median among all U.S. home sale prices is up 2.9% since a year ago. Even that price rise is considered very low. It’s been well over a decade since we saw such muted property value appreciation, Redfin observes.

How long will you need to keep your deed to break even on your home purchase? Real estate is still a wealth-builder—but it’s taking longer.

Why Are Big Texas Cities Looking Hard for Buyers?

It has a lot to do with all that building they permitted after the pandemic.

As Redfin’s chief economist Daryl Fairweather explained to Newsweek, Austin was the “poster child for pandemic boomtowns,” with listing prices jumping 60% in a two-year whirlwind of buying from 2020 to late 2022.

Fairweather said builders picked up on the demand and jumped in to build multi-unit properties and stand-alone homes. But mortgage rates shot upward in 2023. The potential buyer pool started drying up. Prices sank. All this happened right when the builders unveiled many of their new developments. They started offering to buy down interest rates to lure buyers back into heavily built markets. The sellers’ “hot market” had cooled.

It’s not that Central Texas is cheap. But the market is catching the attention of buyers looking for relative opportunities.  

And the big Texas cities aren’t the only places where listings outnumber prospective buyers. Across the country, according to recent figures from Redfin, there are about 37% more sellers than buyers. We haven’t seen a pause in buying like this one since 2013.

“TownLake” Expansion to Give Austin Even More Residential Units

The Greater Austin YMCA is planning an expansion. Its high-profile TownLake development at Cesar Chavez St., Austin will have three residential towers.

The plans include child care and educational amenities, wellness programs, and on-site housing support. If all goes to plan, features will include:

• A 110,000-square-foot YMCA.

• Office and restaurant space.

• Up to 750 luxury condos.

• 90 affordable housing units (mainly 2- and 3-BR) for people with 30 to 80 percent of the area’s median household income.

• Water reuse and flood control systems, solar panels, a public community garden, and open meeting spaces.

Review of the plans by Austin’s city council will likely stretch well into 2026.

Supporters praise the planned environmental features, health and child care access, transit connections, and walkability. Opponents call the project “excessive” and “out of character.” An affordability advocate said the project is not a win for working households, as just 10% affordable units is much too small a percentage to fit the needs of working people in Austin.

Where Are the Other Buyers’ Markets?

Zillow® continually updates its list of buyer’s markets. Which cities are they currently counting among markets where listings outnumber buyers?

Zillow’s latest list (updated with sales through October 2025) names nine places that weren’t on it last year. Latest to join the list are Cincinnati, Milwaukee, and Birmingham. In addition to those three newcomers, along with Austin, San Antonio, and Houston, buyers might take a look at:

• Indianapolis, Indiana

• Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

• New Orleans, Louisiana

• Louisville, Kentucky

• Nashville and Memphis, Tennessee

• Detroit, Michigan

• Jacksonville, Tampa, and Miami, Florida

• Seattle, Washington

• Atlanta, Georgia

• Charlotte, North Carolina

Even in these cities, it’s a difficult time for many to acquire deeds. Getting a deed for the first time is especially challenging, because that’s when a buyer does it without using equity accumulated during a former homeownership. Many first-time buyers have had to cover large rental costs (among other things) for years. Saving up the money for a down payment is no easy feat in the times we’re in.

Where Have All the Buyers Gone?

Buyers — both first-timers and repeat deed holders — are largely concerned about paying interest rates of 6-7%. That is the range where rates have hovered throughout 2025.

And this is a time when a great many baby boomers are ready to let go of their long-time homes. Others are ready to sell because of job changes or divorces. These are homeowners who need to move, and are looking for people to come and get their homes.

But a lot of buyers are deciding to go with new construction, leaving private sellers frustrated. According to Redfin, Texas and Florida have permitted so much new construction that the states have more homes for sale than people in the position to buy them.

How Long Will This Trend Last?

Builders are now slowing down in Texas and Florida. The tide could turn once the extra supply diminishes. But it’s hard to think that demand will quickly shoot up, or that another hot market could soon take off. For that to occur, interest rates will need to come down further. That’s typically prompted by rate cuts by the U.S. Federal Reserve. At this time, the Fed board is cautious about bringing rates down. It could be some time before we see meaningful relief for sidelined borrowers.