Sellers · October 5, 2026
Seller playbook for longer-DOM Austin ZIPs
Longer-DOM ZIPs punish a hopeful first price. Get the comps right on day one.
September was not one Austin market. 78731 still moved. 78703, 78704, and 78702 took longer. If you price your house off a city median, you are using the wrong map.
In September 2026, 78731 sold 30 homes at a median of $1,130,000. Median days on market was 19. Months of inventory was 3.37. 78703 sold 15 at a median of $1,280,000, with a median of 73 days on market and 6.75 months of inventory. 78704 sold 41 at a median of $918,312.50, with a median of 84.25 days and 6.77 months of inventory. 78702 sold 22 at a median of $550,000, with 7.72 months of inventory.
AgentIntel, Unlock MLS via MLS Grid, September 2026. The official Unlock MLS release may revise these figures. They are ZIP context. They are not your sale price, and they are not a promise of how many days your house will take.
The split
78731 is the fast pocket in this set. A prepared house there can still sell while the listing is new. 78703, 78704, and 78702 are the longer window. Buyers have more to look at, and the median time on market in 78703 and 78704 is measured in months, not weeks.
Do not underwrite your street with a city median, or with a ZIP median from a different part of town. The buyer who tours your house is comparing you to recent solds on your block and in your school zone. If those sales do not support the number in your head, a faster ZIP will not rescue the price.
Price to comps on day one
The buyers who already want your area see a new listing in the first two weeks. A wrong list price burns that group. Cutting the price later is not the same as having been right on day one. Those buyers have moved on, or they have decided you were hopeful.
Price to recent solds. Not to the net you need. Not to the renovation you still like. If the comps are thin, say so and pick a number you can defend in writing. Hope is not a comparable.
Expect a longer window
If the September median in your ZIP was 73 days, as in 78703, or 84.25 days, as in 78704, plan the calendar before you order the sign. Mortgage, taxes, insurance, utilities, and upkeep keep running while showings are quiet. Write those months into the decision.
Do the work before you go live. Pre-inspect. Fix the items that stop a contract: roof, foundation, HVAC, an active leak. Stage for the photos. The photos are the showing that happens before anyone books a time.
Net sheet before you list
Write the net before you pick a list price. Include the fees, the concessions a buyer is likely to ask for when inventory is past six months, and a sale range the comps will support. Then decide go or no-go with that page in front of you.
If the net only works at a price the recent sales will not support, you do not have a plan. You have a number you hope someone ignores the comps for.
Buyer leverage without panic
More choice for buyers is not a crash. In 78703, 78704, and 78702 they can wait and compare. You negotiate from a clean house and a price that matches the solds, not from a story about what you spent on the kitchen.
A repair you already know about is cheaper to fix now than to concede after the inspection, and cheaper than a price cut after three quiet weeks.
When to wait
If the written net does not work, hold or rent. Do not test the market at a fantasy number. A failed test becomes the history the next buyer asks about.
Waiting is a decision. Listing high to see what happens is not.