Market Monday March 30th, 2026

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Austin Real Estate and Growth Report: What Every Buyer, Seller, and Resident Needs to Know This Week

If you live in Austin, are thinking about moving here, or are trying to figure out what to do with the home you already own, the news coming out of Central Texas this week tells a story worth slowing down to read. From a major affordable housing investment in East Austin to explosive data center job growth in Georgetown, from a 90-year-old Buda train depot getting a second life to a city council vote that could change what your neighborhood looks like, this week is a snapshot of exactly why Austin remains one of the most dynamic real estate markets in the country.

I pull this kind of data every single week so my clients can make decisions based on what is actually happening, not headlines from six months ago. Here is everything that mattered this week.

A Beloved Austin Pop-Up Is Finally Opening a Permanent Home on South Lamar

If you have been lucky enough to snag a seat at a Foodie + Tina omakase pop-up, you already know what the buzz is about. What started in 2023 as a monthly dinner in a backyard garden is now becoming a brick-and-mortar takeaway sushi spot and hand roll bar at 2153 S. Lamar Boulevard, with a target opening in early June 2026.

Co-owners Becca Seiler and Spencer Brown are building something genuinely different. Brown, who previously worked at some of Austin's most respected sushi counters including Uchiko, Uroko, and Este, says the turning point came when he started paying attention to where the fish actually came from. Flying seafood in from both coasts and Japan drives up costs, burns fuel, and disconnects the food from the place it is being served. Foodie + Tina will source exclusively through Minamoto Foods, an Austin-based fish vendor focused on domestic Gulf Coast and U.S. catches.

The 800-square-foot space is intentionally small. Lower overhead, bigger kitchen, tighter focus. The hand roll bar format means quick service for the lunch crowd from nearby office buildings and fitness studios, while the omakase DNA gives regulars a reason to come back for something more intentional. Brown and Seiler drew inspiration from Choo Sando on Burnet Road, another Austin spot proving that small footprints can build loyal followings.

For South Lamar residents and anyone in the 78704 zip code: this is the kind of neighborhood anchor that shows up on restaurant guides, drives foot traffic, and adds long-term character to a corridor. Foodie + Tina is exactly the type of locally rooted business that keeps South Austin feeling like South Austin.

90 Years Later, East Austin's Santa Rita Courts Is Getting a Major Overhaul

One of the more significant housing stories in Austin right now is unfolding quietly at 2300 E. Second Street, where the Housing Authority of the City of Austin is moving forward with plans to redevelop Pathways at Santa Rita Courts. The property has been vacant for some time, its 26 buildings sitting behind a chain-link fence in one of the fastest-changing parts of the city.

The original complex was built in 1939, making it nearly 90 years old. The redevelopment plan calls for demolishing 16 of the existing structures while preserving and renovating 10 historic buildings. New construction would bring the total unit count from 97 to 200. A site plan application is currently working through the city's approval process, with development expected to roll out across three phases.

Units are planned for households earning between 30 and 60 percent of the area median family income. To put that in concrete terms, 30 percent AMI for a family of three in Austin was $36,150 as of mid-2025. Sixty percent AMI for the same household was $72,300. The project also includes 21 market-rate units and a dedicated pre-kindergarten building, a detail that matters enormously for working families.

East Austin's transformation over the past decade has been well documented. Projects like this one are part of how the city tries to ensure that the people who have roots in these neighborhoods can remain in them as values rise. For buyers and investors tracking the East Austin market, this kind of infrastructure investment is also a signal about long-term neighborhood stability.

Buda Is Turning a Century-Old Train Depot Into a Community Marketplace, and It's Worth Paying Attention

Twenty miles south of downtown Austin, a city of about 16,000 people is doing something that a lot of larger cities talk about but rarely pull off: taking a piece of authentic local history and turning it into an engine for small business growth.

The Buda Economic Development Corporation has been working to relocate and repurpose a train depot that dates to the 1880s, built around the time the International and Great Northern railroads extended their lines from Austin to San Antonio. The depot served as an economic catalyst for Buda until 1961, then changed hands, ended up between San Marcos and New Braunfels being used as a railroad-themed Airbnb, and was eventually accepted by the Buda City Council for restoration.

The project, now called The Depot on Main, will include flexible retail space for Buda-based businesses, a co-op retail marketplace, a public plaza, space for public art, and a permanent concrete foundation. The target is to open before the end of 2026.

Buda is one of the most interesting markets in the Austin metro right now. It sits at the intersection of affordability, access, and authentic community character, three things that are increasingly hard to find the closer you get to downtown Austin. The Depot on Main is the kind of development that builds a sense of place rather than just adding square footage. Hays County as a whole grew 3.4 percent from 2024 to 2025 and now sits at over 304,000 residents. Buda is growing within that, and projects like this one signal that the city is investing in quality of life alongside quantity of housing.

Austin Is Still the Fastest-Growing Major Metro in Texas. Here Is What the Numbers Actually Say.

The U.S. Census Bureau released new county-level population estimates this week, and the Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos metro added just under 54,000 residents between July 2024 and July 2025. That 2.1 percent growth rate makes Austin the fastest-growing major metro in Texas, outpacing Houston at 1.63 percent, Dallas at 1.48 percent, and San Antonio at 1.38 percent. The metro population now stands at approximately 2.62 million people.

The growth is not distributed evenly. Caldwell County, south of Austin, grew 4.2 percent, ranking 10th fastest among U.S. counties with at least 20,000 residents. Williamson County, north of Austin, added 23,814 people in a single year, the ninth largest numeric gain of any county in the entire country. Williamson County has now grown 22.3 percent since the 2020 Census. Travis County grew at a more modest 1.1 percent, adding 14,749 residents.

The bulk of the growth came from migration. The metro added approximately 37,500 residents through domestic and international migration combined. International migration slowed from about 28,000 in 2024 to 17,500 in 2025, which accounts for most of the deceleration from 2.7 percent growth the previous year.

For anyone buying or selling in the Austin suburbs, these numbers matter. The markets absorbing the most people, including Williamson County cities like Round Rock, Georgetown, Leander, and Cedar Park, as well as Hays County cities like Kyle and Buda, are where builder activity is highest and where price-per-square-foot comparisons to Austin proper are most compelling. The population data confirms that demand in these corridors is not a trend. It is structural.

92 Percent of Austin's Gen Z Households Rent. Here Is What That Means for the Market.

A new report from RentCafe confirms what most younger Austinites already know from experience: homeownership for Gen Z in this city is the exception, not the rule. Out of 102,323 Gen Z households in the Austin metro, only about 8 percent are homeowners. The remaining 92 percent rent, making Austin the sixth highest Gen Z renter metro in the entire country.

The growth in that renter population has been dramatic. In 2018, there were only 13,696 Gen Z renter households in the Austin area. By 2023, that number had jumped to 93,687, a nearly sevenfold increase driven by the aging of the Gen Z cohort into independent living and by Austin's position as a destination city for young professionals.

The homeownership gap is primarily about affordability and timing. Gen Z entered the housing market during or after the most aggressive price run-up Austin has ever seen, with median prices peaking near $550,000 in May 2022. Even with the correction that followed, prices remain elevated relative to entry-level incomes.

But here is what the current data also shows: Austin home prices are still approximately $105,000 below their 2022 peak. Days on market are at their highest since 2011. Nearly half of all active listings have already had at least one price reduction. Sellers are negotiating. For a Gen Z buyer who has been watching from the sidelines, the combination of corrected prices, motivated sellers, and mortgage rates around 6.3 percent represents one of the better entry windows this market has offered since before the pandemic.

If you are a renter in Austin right now and have been wondering whether to keep waiting or start moving toward homeownership, I am happy to pull the specific numbers for your situation. A conversation costs nothing. What you might be missing by waiting is harder to calculate.

The Data Center Boom Is Building a Supply Chain Economy Right Here in Georgetown

When people talk about Austin's data center boom, the conversation usually focuses on the facilities themselves. What gets less attention is the ecosystem of companies forming around those facilities, and what that ecosystem means for long-term job growth across the metro.

Total Site Solutions, headquartered in Georgetown, is a window into that ecosystem. The company has been building and servicing data centers for more than four decades. What it does now is receive server components, assemble and test them, and ship them to data centers around the world. Its primary relationship is with Dell Technologies, which reported $113.5 billion in revenue last year, a 19 percent year-over-year increase driven heavily by AI infrastructure demand.

That growth has flowed directly to TSS. The company recently reported revenues of $245.7 million, up 66 percent year over year. Its headcount has nearly quadrupled to over 300 full-time staff plus 50 temporary workers. CEO Darryll Dewan put it simply: the reason is AI, and it is not going away.

For buyers evaluating the northern suburbs, Georgetown and the surrounding Williamson County corridor are not just bedroom communities for Austin commuters anymore. They are becoming an independent economic center with their own job base. That is what drives long-term home value appreciation, and it is worth factoring into how you think about location.

Austin City Council Just Made It Legal to Run a Business From Your Front Yard

In a move that is very on-brand for Austin, City Council approved a resolution this week encouraging what the city is calling Front Yard Businesses. The idea is exactly what it sounds like: allowing residents to operate small-scale retail operations from their front yards, porches, and stands rather than requiring them to rent commercial space to get started.

The resolution recognizes that commercial real estate costs are a real barrier for people who would otherwise start a business, and that small neighborhood businesses improve walkability and add character to residential streets. The categories it expects to support include artisanal goods, garden stands, plant sales, bakery windows, and small-scale repair services.

The new approach creates a land-use category for businesses up to 200 square feet, removes barriers including car trip limitations, front setback regulations, and signage restrictions, and establishes a pink zone pilot to test the program before wider rollout.

For residents, this opens a path to entrepreneurship without a commercial lease. For the real estate market, it adds flexibility to how residential properties can be used, which is worth thinking about when evaluating the long-term utility of a home purchase.

What This Means for You

Austin in 2026 is a city in a genuinely interesting moment. The growth that defined 2020 to 2022 has recalibrated into something more measured and more sustainable. The supply of homes is elevated. Sellers are negotiating. Prices are well below peak. At the same time, the economic fundamentals driving Austin's long-term desirability, the jobs, the infrastructure, the population growth, the business investment, are all still pointing in the same direction.

Whether you are a buyer trying to figure out when to move, a seller trying to understand what your home is worth right now, or someone who has been sitting in Austin for years wondering whether to stay or go, the data this week gives you more to work with. I am here to help you use it.

I pull market data and local news every single week and translate it into decisions my clients can actually act on. If you have questions about a specific neighborhood, a specific price range, or what your current home might sell for in today's market, reach out. That is what I do.

Amanda White | Christie's International Real Estate | Austin, Texas amandawhiteatx.com