Austin, TX – There is a similar narrative driving all four of Texas’ big metros, and it is a positive one. Dallas, Houston, Austin and San Antonio have, since 2000, been among the nation’s leading major metros for economic and population growth. But, surprisingly, this growth has severely influenced housing prices in only one of them. Median home values in metro Houston, Dallas-Fort Worth and San Antonio, while increasing, remain, according to Zillow, below or just above the national median of $187,300. The Austin metro, however, has median home values of $254,500, and the city proper is Texas’ 2nd most expensive home-buying market, trailing only the beach town of Galveston. Austin’s median housing prices have also grown far faster in net total than the others, increasing by $80,000 since 2011. Why the difference? The reasons vary, but boil down to Austin’s relative unwillingness – thanks to NIMBYism and regulations – to build more housing…[read the rest here]