When Is the Best Time to Sell a House in Austin?

Deciding the best time to sell your Austin, Texas, home can be confusing to nail down. Austin is home to the University of Texas’s flagship campus, tech startups galore, and serves as an anchor city for employers, academics, and football fans throughout the region. With so many factors contributing to the city’s calendar, how do you determine the best time to sell a house in Austin?

This article will help you demystify the factors playing into your home sales experience and determine the best time of year to sell your property. We will round up the factors that play into the local market and help you understand the months that are optimal to prep, stage, list, and sell your home for its highest possible list price and in the quickest time to close.

According to recent statistics from the Austin Board of Realtors®, homes spent an average of 18 days on the market, selling for a median sales price of around $550,000. What is the best time to sell your property in Austin? Read on for our tips, tools, and expert insight on how to sell for the highest profit or on the quickest closing in America’s weirdest city.

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What is the best time to sell a house in Austin?

Top local Realtor® Jaymes Willoughby has more than 38 years of experience and has seen the city evolve from a cowtown capital city to the Silicon Valley of the Southwest.

“It has changed the dynamics here,” he says of the demographic shift and its impact on the real estate market. “Not only do we have the University [of Texas] and other universities nearby,” he notes, but the high-tech job market has drawn in an educated populace.

“We have a pretty analytical demographic here, so when they make a decision, they pursue it [as] if it’s like a business within their personal lives.” This angle directly impacts his advice to sellers looking to ready their homes for the market at optimal times throughout the year.

To give an overview of how data plays into this picture for you as a seller, consider whether your primary objective is to snag a higher price or close with speed — this has an impact on how you’ll want to time your staging and sale.

Closings through the fall holiday months have traditionally garnered the highest sales prices, as reflected in the HomeLight’s Best Time to Sell Calculator data.

Willoughby says a traditional spike in closings toward the end of the year points to the fact that many sellers like to end the year and finish transactions by December 31. Because some buyers are similarly eager to close before the year’s close, competition for homes can drive sales prices up.

The best time to sell in Austin for speed, however, falls in a different season. The beginning of April is also a smart time to list, observes Willoughby: “From April to mid-May, that’s another really good time block, because you’re after spring break, but before school lets out.” If you identify as a “summer seller,” he says, listing your home in the spring can ensure closing on the timeline you prefer.

Let’s take a look at real estate transaction data for Austin and some surrounding cities to find the best time to sell your home whether you want to sell for the most money or sell fast.

Best times to sell a house in Austin

Best times to sell a house in Pflugerville

Best times to sell a house in Cedar Park

Best times to sell a house in Leander

Best times to sell a house in Lakeway

Best times to sell a house in Georgetown

Best times to sell a house in San Marcos

All charts based on historical home sales data, 2014-2021

To see home-selling trends in your city, check out our Best Time to Sell Calculator.

If you’re looking for the most precise estimate about when to list your home, talk to a top-performing Austin real estate agent.

4 key selling trends in Austin

1. The tech industry

Nicknamed “Silicon Hills,” Austin is home to many tech startups and regional offices for large companies in the industry. Apple, Dropbox, Dell, and Facebook are just a few companies with a presence in this city, so key into big business announcements when they come along. Expansions, layoffs, and other staffing changes could quickly sway the local real estate market.

2. ‘The Resolutioners’

Austin’s populous is, on the whole, highly educated. This demographic is consistent in surrounding suburbs, impacting the market, says Willoughby. He points to a contingent of homebuyers who he calls “the Resolutioners.” These shoppers, who’ve made a New Year’s goal of buying a home, hit the streets (well, we mean the web — but more on that later) at the first of the year. The trend is reflected by an uptick in traffic at local real estate offices right after the holidays.

“A lot of sellers aren’t thinking, ‘I’m going to put my home on the market in January,’ but a lot of buyers are thinking, ‘now is a good time to buy.’” With lower average inventory and motivated buyers who are shopping, Willoughby indicates that January is a good time to consider listing.

3. The K-12 academic school year

A key moving part of many real estate markets in the United States is the school calendar, and Austin is no different. Though many students shifted to online school during the pandemic, class schedules remain much the same.

A traditional school year in Texas brings students back to class in late August, according to the Teachers Education Association (TEA), releasing for the year in late May. For some districts, COVID disruptions caused students to attend school from early August to late June, with pandemic breaks implemented in January and March 2021. This may help to explain the notably below-average sales prices and longer-than-average Days on the Market (DOM) in that year.

As Willoughby puts it, families looking to follow the traditional school year and become “summer sellers,” listing just after spring break in April. Doing so remains a good bet for efficient summer sales.

4. University calendars

The University of Texas’ main campus in Austin impacts the local population, whether prospective buyers are directly affiliated with the university or not. With around 40,000 undergraduate students, approximately 11,000 graduate students, and around 3,000 teaching staff and faculty, the university calendar affects the rhythm of this capital city.

The university calendar typically fires up in mid-to-late August, slowing down in December. Classes recommence in mid-January for the spring semester and wind down in mid-to-late May.

Other colleges and universities in Austin proper include St. Edward’s University, Concordia University Texas, Hutson-Tillotson University, and the Gemini School of Visual Arts. Sizable campuses nearby include Texas State University in San Marcos and South University, Austin, in the suburb of Round Rock.

In addition to higher education serving as a major employment sector in the area, college students too are a target audience for certain types of property investments (condos, for instance).

Connect With a Top Agent to Sell Your Austin Home

It takes just two minutes to match clients with the best real estate agents, who will contact you and guide you through the process. To connect with an agent, simply tell us a little bit about your property and how soon you’re looking to sell.

Our data shows the top 5% of agents across the U.S. help clients sell their home for as much as 10% more than the average real estate agent.

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Insider tips to help sell your Austin home

Even if you aren’t aiming to close in July or December, you can do things year-round to move your property along during off-peak months. Willoughby recommends preparing your home before listing, no matter when you start considering the process.

“We have a make-ready crew,” he explains, and this team comes in advance of a listing to clean up the property, ensuring optimal appeal for prospective buyers. These teams work to:

• Clean, trim, and fill out your property’s landscaping. Be sure to capitalize on this easy-win contribution to curb appeal.
• Freshen up exterior paint, the front door, and exterior light fixtures. These are noticeable improvements that can show buyers that you have been attentive to detail.
• Deep clean and declutter the home in preparation for listing photography and in-person showings.

Whether these tasks are delegated through your real estate agent’s network or things you tackle on your own, building in this “make ready” time can ensure your property sells quickly once it is listed, no matter what month of the year that may be.

• Give your A/C a tune-up. With hot summers a near guarantee, buyers will likely pay attention to your home’s air conditioning system age, quality, and effectiveness. If your home does not have central air, discuss this potential investment with your Realtor® — installation may be worth considering.

Answers to other Austin home-selling questions

How do I settle on a list price?

Compared to other areas of Texas, buyers may experience sticker shock when shopping in the Austin market. How can you as a seller settle on a list price that both maximizes your price potential but invites buyers looking for good value?

HomeLight’s free Home Value Estimator is a great starting point. Start by plugging in your address and get a real-world ballpark home value estimate in less than two minutes. Simply tell us a little bit about your property (the address, type of property, its condition, and the year it was built) and how soon you’re looking to sell.

To set a final list price, consult your Realtor® who can provide a comparative market analysis (CMS) and should also have a good understanding of the city’s neighborhoods and nuances.

Are there any features I should consider to add buyer appeal?

A garage or carport certainly doesn’t hurt in this part of the country. Severe weather season is not taken lightly in Texas, and Austin is no exception. Storage options like sheds and garages can give buyers peace of mind to protect vehicles and other possessions stored outside the home.

Swimming pools and shady patios can also appeal to certain buyers, especially in a climate where temperature highs hover in the mid-90s for months on end. On a related note, if your home is close to a lake or other natural body of water, that proximity can be an asset — be sure to highlight that fact in your listing!

What if I just need to sell my Austin home fast?

In today’s market, chances are you’ll sell your home with no long delays. But if you want to skip the hassle of staging, listing, and showing your home, you may consider an all-cash offer option like HomeLight’s Simple Sale.

Simple Sale provides cash offers for homes in almost any condition in Austin. So if you don’t have the time or the means to fix the place up or move through the listing process, you can skip the repairs and showings and close in as few as 10 days. Complete a short questionnaire and receive a no-obligation cash offer within 48 hours.

Find a top agent in Austin for a successful home sale

If you haven’t identified an agent to work with, HomeLight Agent Match Tool can connect you with a performance-proven real estate expert in the local market. This free tool can match you with professionals who have expertise in selling properties similar to yours. Start with a shortlist of agents to interview, and prepare to list and close. Your next adventure awaits!

Header Image Source: (K. Mitch Hodge / Unsplash)