Austin's Housing Bust Is Just What America Needs

Austin’s housing market went from red-hot to best avoided in the blink of an eye. Those lucky enough to buy before the pandemic and sell at the market peak saw their home values surge nearly 70% in three years. The fall since has been painful — but it’s also put the city on track to return to the type of affordability that’s sorely lacking in most of the rest of the country.

The Texas metro along with neighboring Dallas and San Antonio stand in contrast to New York or Hartford or Cincinnati or a host of others cities across the US, where a housing deficit has continued to outweigh demands for better affordability, freezing the market into dysfunction. Austin’s boom-bust cycle is an important green shoot for the national housing market, while also showing what it will take to get transactions going again.