Market Monday: August 3rd, 2026
National Prices Are Cooling, But It's Not the Same Story Everywhere
Home prices fell nationally for the eighth straight month in June. The median asking price hit $430,000, down 2.5% from a year earlier. That's the steepest year over year drop Realtor.com has recorded since it started tracking the data in 2017.
The regional split matters more than the national number. Prices are down 7.3% in the West and 3.5% in the South. Meanwhile they're up 10% in the Midwest and 12.6% in the Northeast. Realtor.com senior economist Jake Krimmel called June a "no news is good news" month, with mortgage rates hovering around 6.5%, inflation holding steady, and the labor market settling in.
Days on market are also moving faster. The national average dropped from 99 days in the first quarter to 87 in the second. Listings and pending sales ticked up from the previous quarter too, a sign sellers are pricing more realistically than they were a year ago.
Starter Homes Are Getting Harder to Find Under $1 Million
A new Zillow analysis looked at the lowest third of home values in cities across the country, the segment typically considered "starter" homes. It found 242 U.S. cities now have a median starter home value above $1 million. That's up from 226 cities in 2025 and just 80 cities back in February 2020, before the pandemic reshaped the market.
California accounts for 105 of those cities. New York and New Jersey saw the fastest growth, each adding 15 cities to the list in the past year. New Jersey alone went from one city on the list before the pandemic to 26 today.
Austin isn't on that list, and neither is most of Texas. States with zero million dollar starter home cities include Texas neighbors like Louisiana and Oklahoma, along with Tennessee, Kentucky, and North Carolina. Zillow economist Kara Ng pointed to zoning and housing supply as the difference maker, noting that Sun Belt markets have generally kept building while Northeast supply has stayed tight.
Austin Approves a Multi Year Audit of City Government
City Council signed off on a $5.23 million contract for an ongoing, multi year audit of every Austin city department. The review will look at programs, services, and third party contracts, and compare Austin's operations to peer cities.
The idea grew out of last November's failed tax election. Mayor Kirk Watson said that result pointed to a need to rebuild trust in how the city handles money and services. Pennsylvania based Public Works LLC will lead the work, partnering with Austin based EGS Research and Consulting.
The contract runs at least three years, with options to extend two more, and won't exceed $5.23 million total. Just $200,000 is budgeted for this fiscal year, with $1.5 million proposed for fiscal year 2026-27. The firm plans to report findings to the city auditor's office weekly as the work gets underway.
A separate ballot measure this fall, backed by the group Save Austin Now, would create a different audit requirement written into the city charter. The two approaches differ in several ways. The council version can be changed by a council majority at any time, while the charter version would need another voter petition to amend, since charter changes are limited to once every two years. The Save Austin Now version would also have to pay for itself through savings the audit finds, repeat every five years, and wrap each review within one year. The council version has no funding requirement tied to results and no fixed deadline, though it sets at least three years between full audit cycles.
Save Austin Now co-founder Matt Mackowiak has argued the council's version isn't truly independent, since council members could amend or repeal it on their own. Watson has countered that tying an auditor's funding to the savings they find creates its own conflict of interest. Austin voters rejected a similar third party audit proposal back in 2018, with nearly 58% voting no.
The TownLake YMCA Could Get a Major Rebuild
The Greater Austin YMCA filed a Planned Unit Development application with the city to redevelop its downtown TownLake facility, built in 1970. The plan would replace the current 75,000 square foot building with a 110,000 square foot mixed use campus.
Details include expanded youth programming and mental health services, residential towers with market rate apartments, 90 affordable housing units, and a blackwater recycling system projected to save 20 million gallons of water a year. The project is expected to generate more than $1 billion in taxable value.
The application still has to go through city review before it reaches City Council. If approved, construction could start as early as 2028.
Around Town This Week
Hopdoddy Burger Bar opens its Mueller location on Wednesday, August 5, at 2005 Aldrich St. The first 100 visitors get scratch off tickets for free menu items and swag. A full grand opening event with a ribbon cutting and live music follows on August 23.
A Little Shady opens in Kyle on Tuesday, August 4, bringing back menu items from the original Shady Grove, including frozen Shady Thangs and green chile cheese fries.
CapMetro Bikeshare returns in a limited capacity on Tuesday, August 11, after a May fire damaged the system's charging infrastructure in southeast Austin. All stations are expected to reopen by year end.
Barton Springs Pool drew 994,172 visitors last year, the highest attendance the pool has seen in a decade.
Still Austin Whiskey Co. is opening a new 15,000 square foot venue this September called The Still Austin Quarter, on Willow Springs Road in south Austin. The space will hold up to 500 guests across four areas, including a Vinyl Lounge with nightly DJs and a Music Room built for live performances, with acoustics designed by Steven Durr, the acoustician behind ACL Live at the Moody Theater. Expect cocktails built around the distillery's own spirits along with a food menu still in development.
"WaterWork" returns to the Seaholm Intake Facility on Friday and Saturday, September 25 and 26. The event turns the historic waterfront building into a projection gallery, with immersive artwork from 22 local artists lighting up the facade. Organizers suggest catching it from a paddleboard for the best view of the projections reflecting off the lake.
Thinking About Buying or Selling in Austin?
If any of this raises questions about your neighborhood, your timeline, or what your home might be worth in this market, reach out. I'm happy to walk through the numbers with you.
Amanda White, REALTOR® with Christie's International Real Estate | amandawhiteatx.com | 940.765.9196
Sources: Realtor.com, The Business Journals, Zillow, Redfin, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, TD Bank, Austin Business Journal, Austin American-Statesman, KVUE, CultureMap Austin, Community Impact
