Home prices flying high in Central Texas

It's no surprise that Austin home values are skyrocketing — but data released Thursday illuminates the pressure it's putting on surrounding communities.

Driving the news: The median home price inside Austin city limits was a record $624,000 in March, a jump of 22.4% over the previous year, per the Austin Board of Realtors.

But get this: The median home price in Bastrop County, to Austin's southwest, increased by 46.9% from March 2021 to $405,500.

• Overall, the median home price in the greater Austin metro, an area that includes Travis, Hays, Williamson, Bastrop and Caldwell counties, leaped 22.6% to $521,000 in March.

Why it matters: Austin's population growth — 146 people per day, according to the Census Bureau's 2021 population estimates — "places immediate and significant demand on infrastructure, particularly housing," says city demographer Lila Valencia. "When a person or family moves into Austin, finding a place to live is at the top of their agenda."

• The Board of Realtors data "shows strong housing market growth in Bastrop and Caldwell Counties, a sign that people are having to look farther out from the central city, which has implications not just for the local housing markets in these areas but also for transit and transportation and access to other amenities and services."