Austin housing hot takes for 2022

With the new year clocking in, we asked for some crystal ball predictions about the one thing all Austinites, rich and poor, think about: housing. The big picture: Where and how we live remains a central question amid Austin's influx of wealth. The folks at home listing site Zillow say that if you're set on a bargain, look to the smaller cities outside of Austin. Home buyers want to live in sunny states, but price hikes in markets like Austin make less expensive nearby markets more attractive. The Sun Belt region, including Austin, should expect another big year, according to a Zillow outlook.

What they're saying: "From April to August, Austin held the top spot in quarter-over-quarter home value growth, which is a good indicator of current housing demand," per the Zillow report. That's likely to trickle out to smaller metro areas in desirable sunny states. Plus, flexible work has shifted where people want to live. Between the lines: The scorching Austin job market will further warm the already hot housing market. "I am doubtful we will see houses selling for hundreds of thousands of dollars over asking like we did in early 2021 when there was an extreme imbalance between available homes and buyers," Austin real estate agent Lilly Rockwell, author of the housing newsletter The Rockwell Report, tells Axios. "The good news for buyers is we are seeing significantly more inventory as sellers grow more comfortable selling during an ongoing pandemic, and I expect that to continue into 2022," she adds. "But our inventory is still not back up to pre-pandemic levels, and Austin will continue to be a very strong sellers' market because we have such robust job creation." Homes could appreciate in value by about 10% in 2022, Rockwell estimates.