What percentage of Properties/Homes Listed for Sale by Realtors Actually Sell, Close and Fund in today's 2026 Residential Marketplace of Austin, Central Texas?

📊 1. Austin & Central Texas Market Overview (2025–Early 2026)

🏡 Market Activity (Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos MSA)

Source: December 2025 Central Texas Housing Report (Unlock MLS)

Metric	2025 Total
Residential homes sold	~29,383 (–3.2% vs 2024)
New listings	~48,017 (+5.5%)
Active listings	~156,314 (+14.6%)
Pending sales	~29,741 (–1.7%)
Median price	$435,000 (–2.4%)

📍 City of Austin alone (2025):
🏠 ~10,096 residential homes sold, with 17,903 new listings and 56,763 active listings.

This shows active listings rising faster than sales, a sign of a slower market and growing inventory.

Market conditions are trending toward buyer-friendly, with higher inventory and slowing sales compared to listings.

📈 2. Sell-Through Rate (STR): How Many Listings Actually Sell?

📌 What Is Sell-Through Rate?

Sell-Through Rate (STR) compares the number of properties sold over a period to the number of active listings — a snapshot of market velocity. It’s commonly used to gauge how many listings are actually turning into closings versus sitting unsold.

Formula:

Sell-Through Rate (%) = (Homes Sold ÷ Active Listings) × 100

STR helps answer: If 100 homes are listed, how many actually sell?

📊 3. Estimated Sell-Through Calculations (Austin & Central Texas)

⚠️ Note: Direct MLS sell-through data for Austin is limited publicly, so these figures are estimates based on available listings/sales data trends (active listings vs sales).

📍 Approximation for 2025 Market

Area	Homes Sold	Active Listings	Estimated STR
Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos (MSA)	29,383	156,314	~18.8%
City of Austin	10,096	56,763	~17.8%
Central Austin (specific)	28 (Dec)	(Not reported)	—

Interpretation: In a given 12-month period, roughly 17–19% of active listings eventually sell, meaning only about ~18 out of every 100 homes listed actually close sold in the year. This does not reflect seasonal or monthly patterns (it’s annualized).

🧠 In strong seller markets, STR can exceed 80%. But in slower markets with higher inventory like Austin in 2025, STRs in the teens suggest less demand relative to supply.

📉 4. Sell vs Not Sell — Visual

Here’s a simple conceptual graph of Listed vs Sold properties for 2025:


Sell-Through Rate (Estimated)

100 listings listed

█ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ 
|---------------------------------|
 ~18 sell
   18%

Remaining
█ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █
 ~82 do NOT sell in same period
   82%

Key takeaway: Only a minority (~18%) of properties listed in a year actually sell and close within that same period. A large fraction remain on market longer, expire/are withdrawn, or carry over to the next year.

🏘️ 5. Other Market Signals

🧭 Inventory & Buyer Power

Months of inventory in Austin were around 4–6+ months later in 2025 — a threshold that signals a balanced or buyer-leaning market.

📉 Price Pressure & Sales Trends

Texas cities including Austin saw many homes selling below list price — in one report, ~80% sold below asking.

📈 Market Balance Likely to Persist

Rising inventory with slower sales suggests the market isn’t in a rapid seller’s frenzy anymore.

📌 Realtor Success: Listings That Sell

A typical sell-through rate in a slower market like Austin means:

For every 100 properties listed with a realtor in a year, only about 17–19 actually sell and close within that year (based on market totals).
Many listings stay active longer than 12 months, expire, or are taken off market.

This doesn’t mean realtors fail — but rather that market conditions and pricing have a huge influence on whether a listing turns into a closed sale. Effective pricing, marketing, and agent skill still drive individual success.

🧾 Summary

📊 Austin & Central Texas (2025)
📌 Listings (annual) ↑
📌 Sales ↑ slightly in places but lower than inventory growth
📌 Sell-through rate (estimated) ~18%
📌 Market leaning toward buyer preference with balanced inventory

If you’d like the same analysis in a downloadable spreadsheet or precise chart with MLS data for specific zip codes, just let me know the areas you want!

ATX: the Austin Real Estate Life Blog

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