Should you sell your South Austin home now, or wait for spring?
Quick answer
Now, for most homes, as long as the house shows well and your asking price is based on this year’s closed sales, not last year’s. South Austin prices are lower than a year ago, and the buyers who are closing are paying today’s numbers.
Public-record median: $463,000 for South Austin sales recorded in the MLS, 90 days ending October 20, 2026. The public record understates South Austin. The sales that would pull this number up trade privately and never reach the MLS, and a lot alone in Travis Heights or Zilker rarely changes hands under a million dollars.
What we analyzed
- 384 homes sold in South Austin in the 90 days ending October 20, 2026
- 751 homes for sale in South Austin as of October 21, 2026, 101 of them builder listings
- 5.9 months of inventory in South Austin, against 5.9 in the Austin metro
- South Austin closings for the twelve months ending October 20, 2026, against the twelve months before
- Homes under contract and pending in South Austin as of October 21, 2026
Sources: Unlock MLS, pulled October 21, 2026.
Selling above $1M? Part of this market never goes online
The figures on this page describe the public side of this market, the sales that were listed in the MLS. Above $1M in the Austin area, a large share of sales are never listed there and never appear online.
Those sales trade on a broker-to-broker private network, and I am a participating broker. Only the agents and brokers who do most of the business at this price point use it, and a surprising number of agents do not know it exists because they do not sell in this range. It covers homes, lots, ranches and condos priced over $1M, and much of it is waterfront or in the Austin core, West Austin, Westlake and Rollingwood, where prices run past $1.5M.
Sellers and their brokers use it for privacy: no public photos or floor plans, and no showings to buyers who have not been qualified.
Contact me for off-market private luxury listings you will never see online
207 South Austin homeowners have trusted my real estate team to sell their home in the MLS, and that count doesn’t include a single buyer we’ve represented. Everything on this page comes from the same MLS record we used to price those homes.
What these numbers mean if you are selling is on the South Austin, TX market report, and every number on this page is also broken out ZIP by ZIP on the scoreboard pages for 78704, 78745, 78748.
Last updated October 21, 2026. Sales data covers the 90 days ending October 20, 2026 and the twelve months ending the same day (Unlock MLS via MLS Grid); listing inventory as of October 21, 2026.
Did waiting a year pay off for South Austin sellers?
No. A seller who held off from last fall sold into a lower market, at $322 a square foot this past year against $338 the year before.
The typical sale fell to $480,000 from $510,000 over the same two years, and the chart below puts them side by side.
What does a buyer’s market mean for when you list?
It means your opening price matters more than your month. South Austin homes closed at 93.8% of original asking over the last three months, a buyer’s market for the area as a whole, though your price point can move you into a different one.
Only 13.3% of those sales closed at or above the first asking price.
A later month won’t change that. Over half of today’s South Austin listings, 54.5%, already sit below their first price, and in my experience most of them opened where the seller hoped instead of where buyers already were.
Does your price range change the answer?
Yes, a lot. Over the last three months the area’s price ranges split between balanced and buyer’s markets, and the range your home sits in decides which one you are selling into.
Homes from $450,000 to $499,999 did best among the busiest ranges, a balanced market for that range.
Sellers between $400,000 and $449,999 gave up more than the ranges on either side of them, a buyer’s market for that range.
Above $1,000,000 the public record is incomplete, so I would not time a sale there off these ranges. Each ZIP code’s ranges are on its own page:
- Is 78704 a buyer’s or seller’s market for Travis Heights homes?
- How close to asking are buyers paying for 78745 homes?
- Is 78748 a buyer’s market or a seller’s market at your price?
Does the age of your house matter more than the season?
Often, yes. More than half of the homes that sold over the last three months were built before 2000.
In my experience the older South Austin houses that went quickly had their deferred maintenance handled first, the roof, the HVAC, the plumbing an inspector will ask about. Fixing what a buyer’s inspector will find is worth more than picking the right month.
Is spring a better time to list in South Austin?
I can’t promise that, and nobody honestly can. What the record shows is that sellers who waited from last fall to this one sold at lower prices, and that the price a listing opened with mattered more than the month it went up.
If your house needs work, the months before spring are a good time to get it done. If it is ready now, waiting means carrying it through the winter on the hope that buyers pay more, and this year’s sales don’t show buyers doing that.
What do the homes under contract say about this fall?
The pipeline is steady. As of this week, 85 homes in the area are under contract but still show as active, and another 48 are pending.
Those buyers agreed to today’s prices, so they are the clearest picture of what you would get.
If you want to see how your home stacks up against what is listed now, start with What is your South Austin home up against when buyers go touring? Why so many listings here end up unsold is on Why do so many South Austin listings never sell?, and the bigger picture is on How is South Austin’s housing market treating sellers right now?
Sell now, or wait?
The area points one way, and your own house settles it. Run your address for the homes a buyer would see next to yours.
- Sell now if the house is move-in ready and your asking price is based on this year’s closed sales, not last year’s.
- Sell now if you are in a range that came out balanced, such as $450,000 to $499,999.
- Wait if an inspection would turn up roof, foundation or system repairs. Handle those first, then list.
- Wait if your plan only works at last year’s price, because this year’s buyers have not paid it.
Before a South Austin listing goes public, I market it to my buyer network during the coming-soon stage. That includes 4,000 cash buyers in the black book, not counting buyers using traditional financing, and more than 100,000 buyers in our database, and you see every option and choose. What a buyer would pay for your house is on What is your South Austin home worth to a buyer this fall?
Your situation
South Austin is selling more homes than a year ago at lower prices. The sellers who struggle, in my experience, are the ones who open above what buyers have already paid.
That leaves one test for your home: at your first price, is it the best house a buyer sees that week?
Before You Put Your Home on the Market, See the Homes You’ll Have to Beat
If you are weighing whether to list this fall or hold off, the listings near you and the sales behind them will answer more than the calendar. Request my complimentary Home Competitor Analysis for your address. You get:
- The listings near you that a buyer would compare with yours
- How sales in your price range have gone in your part of South Austin
- What we would look at in your home before it lists
No obligation. The report for your part of South Austin arrives within a minute; the pricing analysis comes after we walk the home. Nothing here promises a price, a timeline, or an outcome. 207 homes sold by Watters International Realty in South Austin (Unlock MLS, all time).
About Watters International Realty in South Austin
Watters International Realty is a Texas real estate brokerage, and I am its broker of record. This page is based on Unlock MLS data analyzed on October 21, 2026. 207 homes sold by Watters International Realty in South Austin (Unlock MLS, all time).
See the homes you’d be competing against
You get the listings near you a buyer would weigh against yours, how your price range has been selling, and a walkthrough before any decision.
Contact me for off-market private luxury listings you will never see online.
No obligation. The report arrives within a minute; the pricing analysis comes after we walk the home. Nothing here promises a price, a timeline, or an outcome.
More for South Austin sellers
- How is South Austin’s housing market treating sellers right now?
- Is 78704 a buyer’s or seller’s market for Travis Heights homes?
- How close to asking are buyers paying for 78745 homes?
- Is 78748 a buyer’s market or a seller’s market at your price?
- What is your South Austin home up against when buyers go touring?
- Why do so many South Austin listings never sell?
- What is your South Austin home worth to a buyer this fall?
- The Austin seller hub
