The question worth answering first · Figures as of August 2026

Renting vs buying in Austin

Austin's MLS median sale price was down 4.3% on the year in August 2026, RentCafe's average asking rent down 2.25%, and the 30-year mortgage rate 7.03% on the 24 September survey. Here is the arithmetic, including the property tax that takes five taxing units and three exemptions to work out and the mortgage insurance that stops in the middle of the model, and then the part the arithmetic misses.

Calculator

The short answer

Half the homes sold in the city of Austin in August 2026 went for more than $560,000 and half for less, down 4.3% on a year earlier, and a three-bedroom apartment rents for an average of $2,405. Run those against each other at a 2% appreciation assumption and the answer turns on how long you stay and on the mortgage rate, which was 7.03% on the 24 September survey.

Both sides of the market, a year apart. Sale prices are down 4.3% on the MLS median and down 3.7% on Zillow's index, and average asking rents are down 2.25% on RentCafe's count, each for August 2026 against the same month a year earlier. Texas law guarantees a renter nothing either way: a city may adopt rent control only after a disaster and with the governor's approval.

The tax is the cost that decides it. Texas has no income tax and no transfer tax, and it collects instead through the property tax. On the median house a homesteaded owner pays about $9,019 a year, 1.61% of the value, after the school district's $140,000 exemption and the others'. Unlike the interest, it does not shrink as the loan is paid down, and it does not end when the loan does.

Getting in is cheap and getting out is not. A buyer pays no transfer tax and the seller customarily buys the owner's title policy, so closing runs to about $1,630 plus lender fees. Selling costs about 6.1% once the commission and that title policy are counted, or roughly $34,160 on this house, which is the shape that punishes a short stay.

The calculator below opens with real Austin figures and every one of them is editable. Two warnings: the property tax rate is set to 1.61% of market value, the homesteaded rate, not the 2.046485 per $100 the five units levy before exemptions, so if you will not live in the house, set it to 2.05%; and below 20% down the owner is charged private mortgage insurance every month until the balance reaches 78% of the price, at which point it stops. Both are explained in the questions below.

Your situation

Compare like for like: the rent on somewhere you would actually be willing to live, not the cheapest listing in the city. Drop the price to around $300,000 and the rent to a one-bedroom figure to compare apartments instead, and put the condo fee in under Assumptions.

20.0% down. The renter starts with this plus closing costs: $113,630: invested instead.

The single biggest lever. Buying costs a lot to enter and a lot to exit, and only time amortizes that away.

Assumptions: every one of them editable

Austin's median sale price is down 4.3% year over year. Zillow's single-family index is down 3.3% at $527,943 and its condominium index down 5.3% at $355,596. Try a negative number for a condo.

What the renter earns on the down payment they never spent. This is the comparison's hidden lever. A renter who spends it instead of investing it does far worse than this model shows.

Texas cities may not adopt rent control unless the city council finds a housing emergency caused by a disaster and the governor approves the ordinance, under section 214.902 of the Local Government Code. Nothing caps an increase at renewal, and no statute sets a notice period for one: a month-to-month tenancy can be ended, and so repriced, on a month's notice under Property Code section 91.001 unless the lease says otherwise. The one statutory limit is on retaliation: a landlord may not raise the rent within six months of a tenant's good-faith repair request or complaint. Any rent-growth figure here is a forecast with no legal ceiling behind it.

Roofs, furnaces, fences, hail. Averaged out it is a real cost even in the years nothing breaks.

Zero for a house with no association, which in Austin is a little over half of owner-occupied homes: the Census Bureau counts 44.5% of the city's owners paying an association fee, at a median of $76 a month. A condominium fee carries the building's insurance, roof and reserves and runs well above that, and a downtown tower above that again.

Commission and legal fees, charged against the price you eventually sell at. The owner's net worth below is after this comes off.

Net worth, side by side

The buyer's line is home value minus what is still owed minus the cost of selling, plus anything they invested in months when owning was cheaper. The renter's line is one portfolio: the down payment and closing costs they never spent, plus the monthly difference whenever renting is cheaper.

Renting stays ahead for the whole 30 yearsTwo lines over 30 years: the owner's net worth and the renter's. The year-by-year figures are in the table below.$0k$1,092k$2,184k51015202530Years
OwnerRenter
Show the year-by-year figures
Year by year, what the owner and the renter are worth
YearHome valueOwedOwnerRenterDifference
1$571,200$443,475$92,881$146,756−$53,875
2$582,624$438,622$108,462$181,381−$72,920
3$594,276$433,417$124,609$217,578−$92,969
4$606,162$427,833$141,353$255,421−$114,068
5$618,285$421,844$158,726$294,991−$136,266
6$630,651$415,420$176,761$336,372−$159,612
7$643,264$408,530$195,495$379,652−$184,158
8$656,129$401,140$214,966$424,923−$209,957
9$669,252$393,213$235,215$472,282−$237,067
10$682,637$384,710$256,286$521,830−$265,544
11$696,290$375,590$278,226$573,675−$295,449
12$710,215$365,807$301,085$627,928−$326,843
13$724,420$355,315$324,915$684,707−$359,791
14$738,908$344,060$349,774$744,135−$394,361
15$753,686$331,989$375,723$806,343−$430,620
16$768,760$319,040$402,825$871,465−$468,640
17$784,135$305,152$431,151$939,646−$508,495
18$799,818$290,255$460,774$1,011,034−$550,260
19$815,814$274,277$491,773$1,085,787−$594,015
20$832,131$257,138$524,233$1,164,071−$639,839
21$848,773$238,755$558,243$1,246,059−$687,816
22$865,749$219,037$593,901$1,331,933−$738,032
23$883,064$197,887$631,309$1,421,883−$790,574
24$900,725$175,202$670,578$1,516,112−$845,533
25$918,739$150,870$711,827$1,614,828−$903,002
26$937,114$124,770$755,180$1,718,254−$963,075
27$955,856$96,776$800,773$1,826,622−$1,025,849
28$974,974$66,749$848,751$1,940,176−$1,091,425
29$994,473$34,542$899,268$2,059,171−$1,159,902
30$1,014,362$0$952,486$2,183,872−$1,231,385
After 30 years
Renting stays ahead for the whole 30 years
On these numbers the money invested elsewhere stays ahead of the equity.

Renting stays ahead for the whole 30 years. Owning costs $4,658 a month in the first year against $2,416 to rent.

Owning, month one$4,658
Renting, month one$2,416
Cash needed up front$113,630
Mortgage payment$2,990
Owner net worth, year 30$952,486
Renter net worth, year 30$2,183,872
Owning: money not recovered$1,530,122
Renting: rent paid$1,187,350
  • The rate is fixed for the life of the loan, so there is no renewal to model, but nothing here credits you for refinancing into a lower one either.
  • Neither household is credited with tax on their investments, and the buyer's gain on a principal residence is tax-free while the renter's portfolio may not be.

An estimate from published figures, not a lender quote.

Questions people actually ask

Is it worth buying in Austin right now?

It depends on how long you stay and on the rate, so start with where both sides stood a year apart. The MLS median sale price in the city was $560,000 in August 2026, down 4.3% on the year, and Zillow's model of a typical home value is down 3.7%, with single-family homes down 3.3% and condominiums down 5.3%. On rents, RentCafe has the average asking rent down 2.25% on the year and Zillow's observed rent index down 0.31%. At 7.03% on a 30-year loan, the mortgage on the median house with 20% down is $2,990 a month before tax and insurance, against a three-bedroom apartment at about $2,405. The property tax is what makes the owner's month so much heavier here: about $752 a month even after the homestead exemptions.

How long do you have to stay for buying to beat renting in Austin?

Longer than the low closing costs suggest, because the cost of selling is where a Texas sale takes its money. Getting in is cheap: no transfer tax, no tax on the loan, and a buyer's share of the title company's charges that comes to roughly $1,630 with the inspection and the county clerk's recording. Getting out costs about 6.1%: around 5.5% of commission, and the owner's title policy the seller customarily buys for the buyer, $3,052 at this price on the state's promulgated rates. On a $560,000 house that is about $34,160. On the defaults below owning never catches renting at all: the renter is ahead in every one of the 30 years the model runs. The friction alone is a shorter and different answer: at a 2% appreciation assumption those two ends take about 3.3 years to earn back, almost all of it the cost of selling. Change the price, the rent or the appreciation rate and the calculator moves the crossover with them.

Does Texas have rent control?

No, and Austin cannot adopt it in any ordinary year. Section 214.902 of the Local Government Code lets a Texas city establish rent control only if its council finds a housing emergency caused by a disaster and the governor approves the ordinance. Nothing caps an increase at renewal, and no statute sets a notice period for one: a month-to-month tenancy can be ended, and so repriced, on a month's notice unless the lease says otherwise. The one limit is on retaliation, which forbids a rent increase within six months of a tenant's good-faith repair request. RentCafe's average asking rent here was down 2.25% on the year in August 2026 and Zillow's observed rent index down 0.31%, which is a market condition rather than a protection. If you are renting long-term, set the rent-growth input above the 2% default and see what it does to the answer.

What are the closing costs on an Austin home?

For a buyer, low, and for the same reason as anywhere in Texas: there is no transfer tax to pay, and since 2016 the state constitution forbids one. A title company, not an attorney, closes the sale, and the title premiums are promulgated by the Texas Department of Insurance, so every insurer charges the same. The owner's policy on a $560,000 house is $3,052 and the seller customarily pays it, though the state's contract leaves it to a checkbox. The buyer pays the lender's policy, $100 when it is issued with the owner's, plus its endorsements; half the title company's escrow fee; the Travis County Clerk's recording, $25 for the first page and $4 for each page after; an inspection; and either a new survey or the seller's affidavit that the old one still holds. Then the lender's own charges and the escrow account for taxes and insurance, which in Texas is large because the tax is. The $1,630 default above covers the title, recording and inspection costs and leaves the lender's out, because those vary by lender rather than by state.

How much do you need for a down payment in Austin?

Legally, nothing sets a floor: this is a lender's decision rather than a rule. Conventional loans start at 3% down and FHA at 3.5%. On a $560,000 house, 3% is $16,800 and 20% is $112,000. What the low end costs you is private mortgage insurance: at 3% down, about $394 a month until the balance reaches 78% of the price, which takes 12.6 years and about $59,500. At 5% down it is $297 a month and $42,200. There is also help. The Texas State Affordable Housing Corporation and the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs both pair a 30-year loan with up to 5% of the loan toward the down payment, and the City of Austin lends first-time buyers at or below 80% of median family income up to $40,000, but only on a home priced at $440,000 or less inside the full-purpose city limits, which is below the city's median sale price.

Why does this page use 1.61% property tax when the Austin tax rate is 2.046485 per $100?

Because the rate per $100 is charged on a value the exemptions have already cut, and each taxing unit cuts it differently. A house in the City of Austin and Austin ISD is taxed by five units: Travis County 0.375845, City of Austin 0.524017, Austin ISD 0.9252, Austin Community College 0.1034, Central Health 0.118023, per $100 of taxable value for 2025. Austin ISD first takes off the state's general homestead exemption of $140,000, a flat amount, so it takes a larger share off a cheaper house. The City, the county and the hospital district take off 20% of the value, and the college district 1%, or $5,000 where that is more. On a homesteaded house at $560,000 the five lines add up to about $9,019 a year, which is 1.61% of the value. Without the exemptions, which is what a landlord pays and what a buyer who never files pays, the same house would owe about $11,460. The seller's tax bill is not a guide to yours. A homestead's taxable value may rise no more than 10% a year while the same owner holds it, and the cap lapses on a sale, so a long-tenured owner can be taxed on far less than the appraisal district's market value while you are taxed on all of it from your first year. The exemptions are not automatic either: you apply to the appraisal district, and you can claim a prorated exemption for the year you buy only if the seller did not have one.

Does this calculator favor renting or buying?

Neither, by construction. Both households start with exactly the same cash. Whichever of them has the cheaper month invests the difference. Most calculators credit only the renter with that, which quietly tilts every result toward renting. The buyer's net worth is also shown after the cost of selling, so it is money they could actually walk away with rather than a paper figure. Private mortgage insurance is charged to the owner month by month and then removed the month the lender is legally required to drop it, rather than being averaged away.

What is the calculator not accounting for?

Federal tax, mainly, and it cuts both ways. Mortgage interest and property tax are deductible if you itemize, and whether itemizing beats the standard deduction depends on the household: first-year interest on the median loan is about $31,400 and property tax about $9,019. A principal residence's gain is excluded up to $250,000 single or $500,000 married under section 121, and the renter's portfolio is not. None of that is modeled, and none of it is advice. Three Austin things it also cannot price: the appraisal district's value, which you can protest every spring and which the 10% cap holds down from the second year of the exemption; the rate itself, which each unit sets every autumn and which moves with the tax rate elections the units call; and the association fee that close to half of Austin's owners pay, which is zero in the default above. None of this includes a municipal utility district. Outside the older cities much of Texas was built on MUD bonds, which a developer uses to pay for the water, sewer and drainage lines and which the homeowners repay through a tax rate of their own, on many newer subdivisions a large share of the whole bill. Inside Austin's full-purpose city limits the typical address pays none, but an address in the extraterritorial jurisdiction, and some that were annexed, does, and it is the first thing to check on a new-build street.

Which figures here are estimates

The prices, rents, tax rates, exemptions and title premiums above come from published sources, each one listed below with the period it describes. These do not:

  • The condominium fee, at $350 a month: the Census Bureau publishes a median association fee of $76 for Austin owners who pay one, but that median is mostly suburban associations rather than buildings
  • Home insurance at $300 a month, between the published Austin averages of $2,698 and $4,250 a year and just above the state's $3,489
  • The buyer's half of the title company's escrow fee, at $600, which the state does not set
  • The utilities and City fees an owner pays over a renter, at $150 a month
  • Maintenance at 1% of the home's value a year
  • Every forward-looking rate: appreciation, rent growth, cost inflation and the return on the invested difference
  • The private mortgage insurance rate, which is priced per borrower by credit score rather than published as a schedule

If you want the payment side on its own, with the biweekly plan, prepayments and the month mortgage insurance stops, the mortgage calculator covers it in more detail. To work out where rather than whether, start with the neighborhood guides.

Sources

  1. August 2026 Central Texas housing report · Unlock MLS · retrieved
    Supports: A median residential sale price of $560,000 in the City of Austin in August 2026, down 4.3% from August 2025, 844 homes sold, down 10.3%, 4,554 active listings and 4.6 months of inventory in the City of Austin, No split of the city figures by property type
  2. Zillow Home Value Index, all homes, middle tier, smoothed and seasonally adjusted, by city · Zillow Research · retrieved
    Supports: A typical home value of $497,418 for the city of Austin (region 10221) in August 2026, $516,564 in August 2025, so a fall of 3.7% over the year
  3. Zillow Home Value Index, single-family and condominium series, by city · Zillow Research · retrieved
    Supports: A typical single-family value of $527,943 in the city of Austin in August 2026, against $546,174 a year earlier, down 3.3%, A typical condominium value of $355,596 in the same month, against $375,347, down 5.3%, from the condominium file at https://files.zillowstatic.com/research/public_csvs/zhvi/City_zhvi_uc_condo_tier_0.33_0.67_sm_sa_month.csv
  4. Austin, TX average rent and rent trends · RentCafe / Yardi Matrix · retrieved
    Supports: An average Austin apartment rent of $1,641, down 2.25% from $1,678 a year earlier, updated 31 August 2026, Average rents of $1,287 studio, $1,421 one-bedroom, $1,812 two-bedroom and $2,405 three-bedroom
  5. Zillow Observed Rent Index, all homes plus multifamily, smoothed, by city · Zillow Research · retrieved
    Supports: An observed rent index of $1,586 for the city of Austin in August 2026, down 0.31% from $1,591 a year earlier
  6. Tax rates and truth-in-taxation rate table, all taxing units · Travis County Tax Assessor-Collector · retrieved
    Supports: 2025 adopted rates per $100: Travis County 0.375845, City of Austin 0.524017, Austin ISD 0.9252, Austin Community College 0.1034, Travis County Healthcare District (Central Health) 0.118023, 2026 adopted rates for Travis County (0.386210), the City of Austin (0.579948), ACC (0.103643) and Central Health (0.132863), and no adopted 2026 rate yet for Austin ISD
  7. 2026 exemption listing, Travis County taxing units · Travis Central Appraisal District · retrieved
    Supports: A residence homestead exemption of $140,000 for Austin ISD, with no local option, Local option homestead exemptions of 20% with a $5,000 minimum for Travis County, the City of Austin and the Travis County Healthcare District, and 1% with a $5,000 minimum for Austin Community College, The same exemptions in the 2025 listing, dated 25 July 2025
  8. Property tax rates · City of Austin Budget Office · retrieved
    Supports: A fiscal 2026 rate of 0.524017 per $100, maintenance and operations 0.410282 and debt service 0.113735, A fiscal 2027 rate of 0.579948 per $100, adopted on 12 August 2026
  9. Ordinance No. 20251120-006, reducing the fiscal 2025-2026 tax rate to the voter-approval rate · City of Austin · retrieved
    Supports: The Council adopted a rate above the voter-approval rate on 13 August 2025, which triggered an automatic election, Proposition Q did not win a majority at the 4 November 2025 election, The rate reduced to the voter-approval rate of $0.524017 per $100 under Tax Code section 26.07(e), effective 1 December 2025
  10. Notice about tax year 2026 property tax rates and impact statement · Austin Independent School District · retrieved
    Supports: A 2025 rate of 0.9252 per $100, maintenance and operations 0.8022 and debt service 0.1230, A proposed 2026 rate of 0.9184, maintenance and operations 0.7954 and debt service 0.1230
  11. Austin ISD claims victory in tax rate election · KUT News · retrieved
    Supports: Austin ISD's Proposition A passed on 5 November 2024 with about 58% of the vote, raising the district's rate 9.1 cents, from 0.8595 to 0.9505 per $100
  12. Travis County Prop A, affordable child care passes with majority of vote in 2024 election, unofficial results show · Community Impact · retrieved
    Supports: Travis County's Proposition A, a tax rate increase of 2.5 cents per $100 to fund child care, passed on 5 November 2024 with 59.43% of the vote, 321,043 to 219,141
  13. Truth-in-taxation rate table, all Travis County taxing units, 2022 to 2026 · Travis County Tax Assessor-Collector · retrieved
    Supports: Travis Central Health: a 2026 total rate of 0.132863 per $100, maintenance and operations 0.123603 and debt service 0.00926, against a no-new-revenue rate of 0.118633 and a voter-approval rate of 0.135195; a 2025 total rate of 0.118023, Travis County: a 2024 total rate of 0.344445 per $100 against a voter-approval rate of 0.319445, the 2.5 cents voters approved, Austin ISD: total rates of 0.8595 for 2023 and 0.9505 for 2024, and for 2026 a no-new-revenue and voter-approval rate but no total rate
  14. ACC approves new property tax rate for fiscal year 2025-26 · Austin Community College District · retrieved
    Supports: A 2025 rate of 0.1034 per $100
  15. Central Health board approves fiscal year 2027 tax rate and budget · Central Health (Travis County Healthcare District) · retrieved
    Supports: The Board of Managers adopted the fiscal 2027 tax rate on Wednesday, 9 September 2026, in a release dated 10 September; the rate itself is in the county's rate table above
  16. Fiscal year 2027 tax rate impact statement · Travis County · retrieved
    Supports: A county tax of $1,653.72 in 2025 on a $550,000 homestead after the 20% exemption, the same arithmetic as here, The 2025 rate set with the disaster calculation after the July 2025 floods, which the county said would come out for fiscal 2027
  17. Property tax exemptions · Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts · retrieved
    Supports: A school district residence homestead exemption of $140,000 under Tax Code section 11.13(b), from Proposition 13 approved on 4 November 2025 and effective for the 2025 tax year, Local option homestead exemptions of up to 20% of appraised value, and not less than $5,000, under section 11.13(n), A prorated exemption in the year of purchase only if the previous owner did not have one
  18. Valuing property: the homestead cap and the circuit breaker limitation · Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts · retrieved
    Supports: A residence homestead's appraised value may not rise more than 10% a year, from the year after the owner first qualifies, A 20% annual limit on the appraised value of non-homestead property valued at $5 million or less, the circuit breaker, which expires on 31 December 2026
  19. Tax Code, Section 41.44: notice of protest · Texas Legislature · retrieved
    Supports: A protest must be filed by 15 May or the 30th day after the appraisal notice is delivered, whichever is later
  20. 2025 annual report · Travis Central Appraisal District · retrieved
    Supports: 210,038 property value appeals filed in 2025, A districtwide single-family median level of appraisal of 1.00
  21. School district property value study, 2024 final findings, Austin ISD · Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts · retrieved
    Supports: Austin ISD's local value found within the confidence interval of the state's estimate, so the appraisal district's values stand as market value
  22. 2026 market values on their way · Travis Central Appraisal District · retrieved
    Supports: A median residence homestead market value of $493,449 in Travis County for 2026, against $519,677 in 2025
  23. Annexation · City of Austin Planning Department · retrieved
    Supports: The City collects no property tax in limited-purpose areas, On full-purpose annexation an area's emergency services district tax may be eliminated
  24. Senate Bill 2, 86th Legislature: the Texas Property Tax Reform and Transparency Act of 2019 · Texas Legislature Online · retrieved
    Supports: The enrolled bill summary names Senate Bill 2 of 2019, by Bettencourt et al., the Texas Property Tax Reform and Transparency Act of 2019, with provisions taking effect from 1 January 2020 to 1 January 2022
  25. Property tax process post-Senate Bill 2 (2019): explanatory Q&A · Texas Municipal League · retrieved
    Supports: S.B. 2 lowers the multiplier in a city's voter-approval rate from 8 percent to 3.5 percent more maintenance and operations revenue, for nearly every Texas city, A city that adopts a rate above the 3.5 percent voter-approval rate must hold an automatic election on the November uniform election date, where before voters had to petition for one
  26. Truth in taxation · Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts · retrieved
    Supports: The voter-approval rate gives taxing units other than school districts and special taxing units about the previous year's operating revenue plus an extra 3.5 percent
  27. Geologic wonders of Texas: Central Texas · Bureau of Economic Geology, The University of Texas at Austin · retrieved
    Supports: In Austin the Balcones escarpment generally parallels MoPac (Loop 1): west of it the city is hilly and east of it relatively flat, Hard Lower Cretaceous limestones and dolostones form the hills to the west, and younger Upper Cretaceous rocks including clays the flatter ground to the east
  28. Houston Black: Texas state soil · Soil Science Society of America, with USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service figures · retrieved
    Supports: Houston Black, a smectite clay that shrinks when dry and swells when wet, is found in the Blackland Prairie along the route of Interstate 35 from north of Dallas to just south of San Antonio, Construction on it is often plagued by cracking from the shrinking and swelling, and building foundations need reinforcing
  29. Floodplain management · City of Austin Watershed Protection Department · retrieved
    Supports: NOAA's Atlas 14 rainfall study of 2018 found Central Texas getting heavier rain than previously thought, and the City is updating its floodplain maps from it, In November 2019 the City based its development regulations on the current FEMA 500-year floodplain instead of the 100-year floodplain, pending completion of the updated maps; the maps are on ATXFloodPro
  30. Flood zones · Federal Emergency Management Agency · retrieved
    Supports: The Special Flood Hazard Area is the land flooded by the 1-percent-annual-chance flood, the base or 100-year flood; the ground between it and the 500-year flood is a moderate-risk zone
  31. Understanding flood risk: real estate, lending and insurance professionals · Federal Emergency Management Agency · retrieved
    Supports: Federally regulated or insured lenders must require flood insurance for every building in a Special Flood Hazard Area with a federally backed loan
  32. Primary Mortgage Market Survey, 24 September 2026 · Freddie Mac · retrieved
    Supports: A 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaging 7.03%, up from 6.95% the week before and 6.30% a year earlier
  33. Texas homeowners insurance market overview · Texas Department of Insurance · retrieved
    Supports: A statewide average homeowners premium of $3,489 a year, from the Texas Statistical Plan for Residential Risks, Hail as the largest cause of paid homeowners losses in every year from 2016 to 2025 except 2021
  34. Texas homeowners insurance · NerdWallet · retrieved
    Supports: An average Austin premium of $4,250 a year and a Texas average of $5,910, for $500,000 of dwelling cover
  35. How much is homeowners insurance in Austin, TX? · Insure.com · retrieved
    Supports: An average Austin premium of $2,698 a year for $300,000 of dwelling cover, $100,000 of liability and a $1,000 deductible, updated 27 May 2026
  36. Renters insurance in Texas · NerdWallet · retrieved
    Supports: An average Austin renters premium of $136 a year for $30,000 of personal property
  37. Monthly homeowners' or condominium association fee, table B25143, 2024 American Community Survey 1-year estimates, Austin city · United States Census Bureau · retrieved
    Supports: A median monthly association fee of $76 among Austin owner-occupied units that pay one, 88,975 of 199,801 owner-occupied units, or 44.5%, paying such a fee, from table B25142
  38. City of Austin utility rates and fees, effective 1 July 2026 · City of Austin · retrieved
    Supports: A residential solid waste charge of $23.80 a month plus $4.70 to $40.30 by cart size, Clean Community fees of $5.45 and $4.80 a month, charged to every residential customer, A transportation user fee of $21.80 a month for a single-family home
  39. Homebuyer resources: Down Payment Assistance · City of Austin Housing Department · retrieved
    Supports: Up to $40,000 in assistance for first-time buyers at or below 80% of median family income, A sales price of no more than $440,000, on a home inside Austin's full-purpose city limits
  40. Conforming loan limit values for 2026, by county · Federal Housing Finance Agency · retrieved
    Supports: A baseline one-unit conforming loan limit of $832,750 for 2026, which is the limit in Travis County
  41. Annual estimates of the resident population for incorporated places, 2020 to 2025 · United States Census Bureau, Population Estimates Program · retrieved
    Supports: A population of 1,002,632 for Austin on 1 July 2025, against 961,855 at the 2020 census
  42. 2025 Gazetteer files: places, Texas · United States Census Bureau · retrieved
    Supports: A land area of 325.013 square miles for Austin city, against 319.937 in the 2020 file

These are estimates built from published figures, not a lender quote, a pre-approval or financial advice. Rates, premiums and state and federal rules change; confirm anything you plan to act on with a mortgage professional and read the sourcing methodology.