March closed with 2,536 sold transactions across the Austin MSA, a 23% jump from February's 2,057. That is not noise. A move of that magnitude in a single month reflects real demand stepping off the sidelines, not seasonal randomness. January came in at just 1,532 closed sales, so the market has added more than 1,000 transactions per month over the past 60 days.

The average sold price has now recovered to $573,060, up from a recent low of $537,704 in January. That is a $35,000 move in two months. Buyers who held out through winter waiting for a better entry point largely did not find it.

The 12-month chart tells a more nuanced story than a straight "prices are up" headline. The Austin MSA saw average sold prices pull back from $590,000 territory in August 2025 down to $537,000 in January 2026, a decline of roughly 9% over six months. March has recovered more than half of that ground in just two months.

On volume, the market peaked at 3,031 closed sales in May 2025 and spent the rest of 2025 grinding lower. March is not back to that level yet, but the trajectory is pointing in the right direction. The question heading into April and May is whether this year's spring volume matches or exceeds last spring's pace, which would be a meaningful signal about where the Austin market is headed for 2026.

Days on market followed the same seasonal pattern in reverse. After climbing from around 62 days in early summer 2025 all the way to 96 days in February 2026, the March reading of 84 days represents the first meaningful reversal. Sellers who were sitting on stale listings through the winter are now getting activity again.

Not all zip codes are recovering at the same rate. Several neighborhoods across the Austin MSA are running a completely different race from the broader market. Here is where the data points to genuine strength in March 2026.

78746 (West Lake Hills) remains in a category by itself. A March median of $2,625,000 on 24 closed transactions is not an outlier driven by one sale. That is a functioning market at that price point, and it has held its premium position through every phase of this cycle.

78736 and 78749 (Southwest Austin) posted a median of 6 days on market. That is not a typo. Properly priced inventory in established Southwest Austin neighborhoods is moving faster than at almost any point in recent history. Buyers competing in these zip codes need to be ready to act, not ready to think about acting.

78729 (North Austin / Anderson Mill area) is worth a specific callout for Shipman Partners clients. This is our home zip code. The March data shows a 7-day median DOM on 14 closed sales, with an average sold price of $461,457. That combination of velocity and volume is a strong signal. Well-priced homes here are not sitting.

78757 (Crestview / Brentwood) had 41 closed sales in March at an 11-day median DOM and a $749,900 median price. That is a high-volume, fast-moving result in the central Austin urban core. Demand for walkable, established neighborhoods with access to the Burnet corridor and North Loop is real and measurable.

Kyle (78640) and Hutto (78634) tell a different story. Their median DOM of 65 and 74 days respectively is far from the velocity of Southwest Austin, but the 100% median sold-to-list ratio on 130 and 85 transactions tells you that buyers in the sub-$400,000 segment are paying asking price to secure these homes. There is no negotiating room in the entry-level market right now.

The same data set that shows 6-day velocity in Southwest Austin also shows zip codes where sellers have been waiting three to four months for a buyer. These are not distressed markets, but they are markets where the negotiating dynamic has clearly shifted in favor of buyers willing to be patient and selective.

Georgetown deserves the most attention here. With 111 closed sales, 78628 is one of the highest-volume zip codes in the entire Austin MSA dataset. When you see that kind of transaction volume paired with a 123-day average DOM, it means a large number of homes are closing after sitting on the market for months. Sellers who listed last fall or earlier in the winter are finally closing in March. New Georgetown sellers need to understand that the current inventory supply requires competitive pricing from day one.

One nuance worth noting: the sold-to-list ratio of 97.4% is strong and is the best reading since last fall, but it has not yet reached the levels seen in spring 2025 when the ratio averaged 97.8% in April and May. That gap suggests there is still some room for price improvement as the spring market builds momentum, but sellers should not assume the frenzied pace of the 2021-2022 market.

March 2026 is a tale of two markets within one MSA. Southwest and North Austin are moving at a pace that demands buyer urgency. Georgetown and outer suburban corridors still favor buyers who have time and patience on their side. The luxury market above $1 million is stable, supported by real demand in West Austin zip codes that have not wavered through this cycle.

For sellers, the message is straightforward: the market is more receptive in March than it has been since last summer, but pricing precision still matters. Homes that sit in this environment sit for a reason. The data from Georgetown makes that point clearly. Volume alone does not guarantee velocity.

For buyers, the window that existed in January and February has narrowed. If you are targeting Southwest Austin, North Austin, or established central neighborhoods like Crestview or Brentwood, the competitive conditions of spring 2025 are returning. Pre-approval, decisiveness, and local knowledge are the tools that close homes in this kind of market.

Shipman Partners has been working in this market since 2010 and has tracked 1,100+ transactions across virtually every neighborhood and price point in the Austin MSA. If you have questions about what March means for your specific situation, we are happy to talk through it.