Could it be Elon Musk’s influence on Austin? He’s opening a Tesla gigafactory near Austin in southeast Travis County.
In February, the Texas billionaire declared that the city once known for its weirdness would “be the biggest boomtown America has seen in 50 years,” then doubled down with a tweet about needing 10,000 people for his Giga Texas factory.
Then this week, Disney+ star Becca Tobin wrote a guest column in The Hollywood Reporter on why she left Hollywood for Austin. It was a companion piece to an article about Hollywood’s pandemic-induced influx to Austin.
CoreLogic validated these new Austin converts in its recent Home Price Index. Austin’s year-over-year home prices rose 29.9 percent in June. For those of us checking comparisons, Austin’s price percentages exceeded Fort Worth (14.6 percent) and the Dallas area (13.4 percent) combined. San Antonio prices increased 12.4 percent and Houston’s 9.9 percent.
Nationally, home prices increased 17.2 percent in June 2021, compared to June 2020. It was the highest growth rate since 1979, the year disco died, to put it in perspective. On a month-over-month basis, home prices increased by 2.3 percent compared to May 2021.
“The recent surge to double-digit price jumps reflect the convergence of exceptional demand and persistent low supply,” CoreLogic CEO Frank Martell said in an announcement. “With plenty of cash on the sidelines, along with very low mortgage rates, prices are heading up and affordability will become a more acute issue for the foreseeable future.”
Will the gains last? CoreLogic projects home price gains to slow to a 3.2 percent increase by June 2022, as ongoing affordability challenges deter some potential buyers and an uptick in new for-sale listings cause a slowdown in home price growth.
Or Elon Musk needs more workers.
