Moving back to Austin for a job and horrified at the real estate market. Any areas that are not going crazy right now?

[riaelise]

Originally Posted by cheeva

I remember 2 years ago when the avg. price in Steiner was $200,000 less because of the 1-2 hour commutes from Steiner to downtown. Thank goodness that people will never need to commute to downtown again from Steiner, that would be terrible.

I think that can be said for the suburban cities as well...the lower home prices reflected distance from jobs. Now that many companies are either adopting remote work or hybrid work, distance to jobs really doesn't matter as much and the days of getting a huge house for 300k are long over. There are only a handful of homes in the affordable segment in Round Rock/Pflugerville and a majority of the homes are over 400k, probably 500k at this point. In the subdivision adjacent to mine homes are well over 500k...more closer to 700-800k. In my own subdivision, 550k gets you 2600 sq ft now.

[CarnivalGal]

Originally Posted by cheeva

I remember 2 years ago when the avg. price in Steiner was $200,000 less because of the 1-2 hour commutes from Steiner to downtown. Thank goodness that people will never need to commute to downtown again from Steiner, that would be terrible.

I live in Steiner and have for 16 years. I can assure you that very few people in Steiner work downtown. The traffic problem epicenter is the area immediately around Steiner, namely 620/2222. You could work at the high school three miles away and have a 45 minute commute. Once you get past that, it's pretty much smooth sailing. I used to work around 360/2222, and an hour commute wasn't unheard of. Once I got past the River Place intersection, there was no traffic at all. I only had to go in for half days, and my commute home at 2:00 took 10 minutes.

And it was only ever $200K less than River Place (which bypassed the aforementioned intersection). The area, amenities, and schools will keep demand and prices strong here. So far this year, the median home price in Steiner has gone up 41.5% to $707,500. The average price has gone up 73.7% to $880,000. 73.7%. BTW, a comparable home in River Place will still be $200K more, as their prices have increased at about the same rate. Our value has increased pretty impressively every year since we've lived here, so I don't think the location has hurt us too much.