Why do some West Austin homes sell while others sit?
Quick answer
Usually the first price, and sometimes the house. The listings that closed in West Austin tended to open near what buyers were already paying and went under contract in their first month, while about half of the homes for sale today have had to cut. Above a million dollars the record is less telling, because part of that market sells privately.
Public-record median: $990,000 for West Austin sales recorded in the MLS, twelve months ending October 20, 2026. It reflects only the public record. The sales that would lift it trade privately and never reach the MLS, and in most of these ZIP codes a lot by itself rarely sells for under a million dollars.
What we analyzed
- 1,621 homes sold in West Austin in the twelve months ending October 20, 2026
- 682 homes for sale in West Austin as of October 21, 2026, 55 of them builder listings
- 5.0 months of inventory in West Austin, against 5.5 in the Austin metro
- West Austin listings that expired or were withdrawn in the twelve months ending October 20, 2026
- Days to contract on every West Austin closing over the same twelve months
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
79 West 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 West Austin, TX market report, and every number on this page is also broken out ZIP by ZIP on the scoreboard pages for 78703, 78732, 78733, 78734, 78735, 78738, 78746.
Last updated October 21, 2026. Sales data covers the twelve months ending October 20, 2026 (Unlock MLS via MLS Grid, the public MLS side only); listing inventory as of October 21, 2026. This page refreshes annually.
How many West Austin listings fail to sell?
A lot of them, more than across the metro. Over the past twelve months 41.4% of West Austin listings failed to sell, against 36.0% for the Austin metro. That share counts expired and withdrawn listings as a part of every listing that reached an outcome either way, and it describes the public MLS side only.
Read it with care at the top of the market. Some owners above a million dollars pull a listing and sell through a broker-to-broker private network, and the record cannot tell those apart from homes that simply never sold. Below that price the share is a cleaner read of listings that stalled.
How long are West Austin homes taking to sell?
The typical sale took 48 days to reach a contract, faster than the metro. The middle hides two very different groups, and Table 1 shows them.
Table 1. How long the 1,621 homes that sold in West Austin took to go under contract, cumulative days on market to contract, twelve months ending October 20, 2026. Source: Unlock MLS.
| Days on market | Homes sold |
|---|---|
| 30 days or less | 633 |
| 31 to 60 days | 269 |
| 61 to 90 days | 181 |
| More than 90 days | 538 |
Hundreds of homes went under contract inside a month, and hundreds more took longer than three. Very few landed in between, which is what a market looks like when the first price either works or it does not.
What did the West Austin homes that sold do differently?
They opened close to the market. Homes that closed this past year sold for 94.0% of their original asking price, and only 241 of them sold at or above it.
That second number is the telling one. Fewer than one sale in six got the first price or better, so the sellers who did well were mostly the ones whose first price was already the right one, with a house that showed well on day one. Whether that describes your house is the question on What is your West Austin home worth when top sales stay private?
How many West Austin homes for sale have already cut their price?
About half, 50.9% of the homes listed on the analysis date. The typical one had been on the market 60 days so far.
Those cut listings are your competition. A buyer touring in Westlake or Tarrytown will usually see one the same afternoon as yours, and the full picture of what they tour is on What is your West Austin home really competing against?
Does my ZIP code make a difference?
A large one. In 78734 on the Lake Travis side, more than half of listings failed to sell this past year, at 54.6% against 36.0% for the metro. That counts expired and withdrawn listings as a share of every listing that ended either way.
Steiner Ranch ran closer to the metro overall; the detail for your price range is on Is 78732 a buyer’s or seller’s market for Steiner Ranch owners?, and the Lake Travis detail is on Is 78734 a buyer’s or seller’s market for Lake Travis homeowners?
Lakeway, Bee Cave and Travis Country also ran near the metro, on How do Lakeway and Bee Cave resales compete in 78738? and How is 78735 treating sellers in Travis Country and Barton Creek?
In the ZIP codes where the public median tops a million dollars, the private network handles enough sales that I do not publish their failed-to-sell or days-on-market figures overall. Tarrytown and Westlake are on How is 78703 treating sellers in Tarrytown and Pemberton Heights? and How is the Westlake and Rollingwood market in 78746?
The Lake Austin side, with the tightest supply in the area, is on What are 78733 buyers paying near Barton Creek West?
Is your West Austin home at risk of not selling?
The record points at a handful of patterns, and most of them are in your control. Run your address and we will check yours against the homes that closed nearby.
- More at risk if your first price is set from a neighbor’s best sale instead of this year’s typical one.
- More at risk if the house needs work an inspector will flag, because the next house on the tour may not.
- More at risk in 78734, where supply is heaviest and most of the listings that ended this year did not sell.
- Less at risk if your asking price is based on this year’s closed sales, not last year’s, and the listing is ready on its first weekend.
- Less at risk above a million dollars if you are open to a private sale, where the buyers are already qualified.
We also market the home during the coming-soon stage to the 4,000 cash buyers in my black book, not counting buyers using traditional financing, and you see every option before you choose.
Your situation
In West Austin the homes that sold mostly did it in their first month, and the ones that missed that month tended to stay on the market a long time or come off it. About half of what is listed today has already cut once.
So the useful question is whether your house would land in the first group: priced where this year’s buyers are, and ready on the first weekend.
Before You Put Your Home on the Market, See the Homes You’ll Have to Beat
If you are worried your home could end up in the half that cuts, start with the listings that closed near you and what they opened at. Request my complimentary Home Competitor Analysis for your address. You get:
- The homes near you that sold, and the ones that did not, from the MLS record
- What to fix before listing so an inspection does not stall the sale
- How the walkthrough works and what we look at in your home
No obligation. The report for your part of West Austin arrives within a minute; the pricing analysis comes after we walk the home. Nothing here promises a price, a timeline, or an outcome. 79 homes sold by Watters International Realty in West Austin (Unlock MLS, all time).
Why does a home fail to sell?
Chris’s position, Watters International Realty positions library, approved September 9, 2026.
A home that does not sell has a price problem, a promotion problem, or a product problem, and usually the seller was told it was the market. It was not the market. Plenty of homes are marketed badly, by agents who have no system for following up and no system for responding the minute a buyer raises a hand.
West Austin homes that sold reached a contract faster than the metro’s, so the listings that stalled here usually trace back to the price, the marketing or the house itself.
About Watters International Realty in West 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. 79 homes sold by Watters International Realty in West Austin (Unlock MLS, all time).
See the homes you’d be competing against
You get the closed and unsold listings near you, what to fix first, and a walkthrough before any pricing talk.
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 West Austin sellers
- How is the West Austin housing market treating sellers this year?
- How is 78703 treating sellers in Tarrytown and Pemberton Heights?
- Is 78732 a buyer’s or seller’s market for Steiner Ranch owners?
- What are 78733 buyers paying near Barton Creek West?
- Is 78734 a buyer’s or seller’s market for Lake Travis homeowners?
- How is 78735 treating sellers in Travis Country and Barton Creek?
- How do Lakeway and Bee Cave resales compete in 78738?
- How is the Westlake and Rollingwood market in 78746?
- Should you sell your West Austin home now, or wait for next year?
- What is your West Austin home really competing against?
- What is your West Austin home worth when top sales stay private?
- The Austin seller hub
