![Once Regarded as 'Weird,' Austin Is Making Gains in Luxury Home Sales Austin-Midcentury](https://img.daltxrealestate.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Austin-Midcentury.jpg)
Austin, which once embraced the Keep Austin Weird phrase, has taken another step toward being responsible — like having larger mortgages.
In the latest report from the Texas Real Estate Research Center at Texas A&M University, the Austin area is experiencing a surge in luxury home sales and slowly erasing the region’s reputation of being hip and bohemian.
Teslas are continuing to replace old-school Volkswagens.
Already, the number of luxury home sales — homes that sold for $1 million or more — have doubled since 2018. Austin has surged to No. 2 in Texas in luxury-home sales after trailing the Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land region since 2018.
The Dallas-Fort Worth area is still the king, leading each year since 2018. But the margins are getting closer and Austin is barely leading the Houston region through May.
![Once Regarded as 'Weird,' Austin Is Making Gains in Luxury Home Sales Austin-Midcentury](https://img.daltxrealestate.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/luxury.png)
In the first five months of 2022, Austin has sold 1,561 luxury homes, 17 more than Houston. D-FW sold 1,906.
“What makes this all the more remarkable is that Austin’s population is only about one-sixth the population of Houston and one-seventh that of DFW,” Joshua Roberson, lead data analyst with the Texas Real Estate Research Center at Texas A&M University, said in the report.
Year-to-date sales are on pace to surpass pre-pandemic sales, but it’s too early to tell if there is enough momentum to exceed 2021 sales, he said.
“In-state migration, particularly among higher-income households, has propelled luxury home markets. And booming DFW and Austin have provided steady growth for the state’s overall luxury market.”