What is your South Austin home worth to a buyer this fall?
Quick answer
About what similar homes nearby sold for this year, adjusted for size and condition. South Austin resales sold for somewhat less per square foot than new builds over the last three months, and the typical sale closed below its original asking price.
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
- New-build and resale closings in South Austin, 90 days ending October 20, 2026
- South Austin closings for the twelve months ending October 20, 2026, against the twelve months before
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.
Does a new build nearby lower my South Austin home’s value?
Not directly. Over the last three months South Austin resales sold at a median $309 a square foot, and the new builds that closed went for $344.
The gap is real and fairly modest, and new builds were a small share of what sold, 9.1% of closings.
What are builders asking in South Austin?
The median builder listing here asks $630,000, which works out to $419 per square foot. Those are asking prices on new product, and no buyer has agreed to them yet.
Is my appraised value what my South Austin home is worth?
Not necessarily. The appraisal district values your home for taxes as of a past date, and a buyer prices it from what is for sale this month.
Watters International Realty is a real estate brokerage and not a tax or legal adviser. Questions about your own appraised value, your homestead cap, whether to protest, a PID or MUD assessment on your lot, or what a bond election would do to your own tax bill belong with a tax professional, and the record for your specific parcel is held by the Travis Central Appraisal District (https://traviscad.org). What Watters International Realty can tell you is what a buyer would pay.
This year the gap runs against a seller who anchors on last year. Over the past twelve months the middle South Austin sale closed at $480,000, down from $510,000 in the twelve months before.
Why does last year’s price still feel like the right number?
Because it was real, for last year. South Austin homes sold at $338 a square foot in the twelve months before this one, and plenty of owners remember a neighbor’s sign coming down in a week.
This past year buyers paid $322 for the same foot of house. A price set off the older figure starts above the market, and in my experience that is how a listing joins the group that has to cut.
None of that is a forecast in either direction. It is where buyers are today, and a value that starts there gives you room to negotiate from strength.
How much does condition change what a buyer will pay?
More than most owners expect. A buyer touring a few houses at similar prices pays up for the one that needs nothing and marks down the one with an old roof, in my experience often by more than the repair would cost.
That is why I would have a seller handle deferred maintenance and likely inspection items before listing, and spend on cosmetic upgrades only when the house is badly dated next to what else is for sale.
On the walkthrough we note what a buyer’s inspector is likely to flag, so you can decide what to fix before any buyer sees it.
What did South Austin buyers actually pay against asking?
Buyers paid 93.8% of original asking on the typical sale over the last three months. For South Austin as a whole that is a buyer’s market, and your price range or street may read differently.
That gap tells you more about your number than an online estimate does. An asking price based on this year’s closed sales, not last year’s, starts where buyers already are.
Square footage matters too. The middle South Austin sale had 1,611 square feet, and a house well above or below that is priced against a different set of sales.
Price per square foot changes a lot from one ZIP to the next, so start with yours:
- 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?
Which listings would stand beside yours is on What is your South Austin home up against when buyers go touring?, and whether to list now is on Should you sell your South Austin home now, or wait for spring?
Will your South Austin home hold its value against the listings near it?
Condition and your opening price settle most of it. Run your address and we will line up the listings that sit closest to yours.
- Stronger if the roof, the HVAC and the water heater are newer than the neighbors’.
- Stronger if a big oak, a deep lot or a short walk to South Congress sets it apart from the new builds.
- Weaker if a condo complex off South Lamar has several similar units listed below yours.
- Weaker above $1M if the only sales you look at are the ones that made it onto the MLS.
Why some homes never sell at all is on Why do so many South Austin listings never sell?
Your situation
A median blends hundreds of South Austin closings into one number, and your house is one specific house on one specific street. A buyer prices it against the handful of listings open that same week.
So the real test is simple to state: put your house beside those few listings at your price, and see whether a buyer would pick it first.
Before You Put Your Home on the Market, See the Homes You’ll Have to Beat
If you want to know what a buyer would weigh against your home this month, the listings and recent sales around it are where we start. Request my complimentary Home Competitor Analysis for your address. You get:
- The new and resale listings a buyer would compare with yours
- How recent sales near you compare with South Austin as a whole
- What we look at when we walk through your home
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).
What do your appraised value and recent sales really tell you?
Chris Watters’s position, stated September 9, 2026. Watters International Realty does not forecast prices; the figures on this page are one period’s measurements.
Your appraised value and recent sold comparable sales is where the market was yesterday. Tomorrow, the market is where your competition stands on price and features.
In South Austin that competition is mostly other resales, and 54.5% of the homes for sale have already cut their price.
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 and recent sales a buyer would weigh against yours, how your street compares with the area, and a walkthrough before we talk price.
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?
- Should you sell your South Austin home now, or wait for spring?
- What is your South Austin home up against when buyers go touring?
- Why do so many South Austin listings never sell?
- The Austin seller hub
