‘We’ve got a lot going on here right now’: Austin named top market for real estate amidst national housing shortage

The United States is going through a housing shortage, which has resulted in rising prices throughout the country and bidding wars over available houses, frequently handled entirely with cash. 

Rising populations have contributed to this phenomenon. According to the U.S. Census, Texas added over 370,000 people to their population in just over a year alone.

“I think we’ve got a lot going on right now, we definitely have a home shortage,” Texas realtor Nikki Barringer said, in an interview with Fox 4 Dallas-Fort Worth on June 9. 

Barringer also stated that “cash is king” when buying a house. Offering cash will encourage the seller to close on the house. 

Austin is ranked by Zillow as the nation’s hottest market for the second year in a row, being named as such by a panel of real estate experts and economists. Other sun belt destinations ranked high such as Phoenix, Nashville, Denver and Tampa, while traditional high-priced coastal areas such as New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco were expected by the experts to underperform. Zillow’s prediction last year was proven correct, Austin’s median price for homes increased by 23.6% over the course of last year, the highest rate of growth for any of America’s 50 largest markets. 

Factors that are believed to be driving the boom in the real estate market are an improving economy and the COVID-19 vaccine.