Updated May 2026

Austin TX · Current Inventory Snapshot

1031 Replacement Properties Austin: What Is On The Market Right Now

A pipeline snapshot. About 980 investor-grade Austin listings at any given time, broken down by asset class, price band, and submarket. Here is where the depth actually is for a 1031 buyer running the 45-day clock.

980Investor-Grade Listings

440Small Multifamily

540Commercial Sale

Off-MarketPrivate Pipeline

The pipeline

The current Austin replacement pipeline.

The Austin metro MLS carries roughly 980 investor-grade listings at any given time: 440 small multifamily properties (duplex, triplex, fourplex) in the Residential Income category and 540 Commercial Sale listings across multifamily above fourplex, retail, mixed-use, and office. The main 1031 pillar page on this site renders nine of them live. The point of this page is to show where the depth actually lives by asset class and submarket so a 1031 buyer can decide quickly whether Austin inventory will meet their identification needs inside the 45-day window.

Inventory depth fluctuates week to week. The counts above reflect a typical mid-quarter cross-section. Peak inventory in Austin typically arrives in late spring and again in late summer; year-end thins as sellers pull listings for the holidays and relist in January. For the broader exchange playbook, see the Austin 1031 main guide.

Where the depth is

Where the depth is this quarter.

Small multifamily is deepest in East Austin (78702, 78721, 78723, 78741), Pflugerville, Round Rock, and Georgetown. Duplex pricing clusters around $400,000 to $650,000, fourplex around $750,000 to $1.4M. Buyers consolidating into fourplex should expect to compete, because institutional buy-boxes overlap this range.

Retail and mixed-use depth is highest in East Austin (78702, 78721 again), North Loop, South Lamar, and the outer rim of Round Rock. Deals in the $900,000 to $2M band are thin enough that a 1031 buyer who finds three identifiable properties in this band inside 30 days should move quickly on at least one offer, because waiting for a fourth option often means losing the first.

Office and flex industrial is deepest in Round Rock, Cedar Park, and North Austin. The post-2023 office repricing cycle created cap-rate entries in the 7% to 8.5% range for small office condos and flex buildings that would have traded 5% to 6% in 2021. For 1031 buyers rotating out of appreciated residential rental, the yield shift is often the headline reason to consider office. See the multifamily 1031 page for the small multifamily angle specifically.

The identification list

What a 45-day identification list usually looks like.

A typical 3-Property Rule identification filed with a Qualified Intermediary names three properties by address and parcel number, with no further description required. A 200% Rule identification can list more properties; what matters is the arithmetic ceiling.

For an investor coming in from a $750,000 relinquished sale, a realistic Austin identification might include one lead property (a fourplex in Pflugerville at $695,000), one backup at similar price (a duplex-and-ADU in East Austin at $720,000), and one stretch (a mixed-use retail/apartment combo in North Loop at $985,000). The lead is where the offer goes first. The backup is what gets offered on if the lead goes under contract with another buyer during the identification-to-close window. The stretch is a what-if option the investor would only move on if additional cash becomes available.

Submarket targeting

The submarkets worth pulling first.

Luke Allen pulls replacement-property shortlists by submarket rather than by metro-wide list because submarket competition dynamics vary by two or three orders of magnitude inside the same city. Mueller duplexes trade in days, Pflugerville duplexes trade in weeks, Taylor duplexes trade in months. A 1031 buyer's submarket choice drives whether the 45-day identification window will be comfortable or tight.

East Austin inside the loop (78702, 78721, 78722) gives the shortest days-on-market and the thinnest negotiation. Outer East Austin and Pflugerville give moderate DOM and more negotiation room. Georgetown, Round Rock, and Hutto run longer DOM and give the most negotiation room but trade yield for appreciation potential. The right submarket depends entirely on whether the investor is optimizing for yield, appreciation, or operational ease.

See the main Austin investment properties page for general investor inventory, or the Austin multifamily market report for current data on the larger apartment market.

Common Questions

Replacement Properties FAQ.

Are off-market Austin properties available for 1031 identification? +

Yes. Off-market inventory exists in the $1M to $3M range particularly, where private sellers often pass through broker networks rather than MLS. Luke maintains a short list of off-market Austin investor properties, generally two to six active at any time, that qualify as identifiable 1031 replacement property.

Will a property under contract at identification time still work for a 1031 identification? +

Yes, as long as the exchanger is not already under contract. The identification notice only requires sufficient description, not seller cooperation. If the exchanger later contracts on that property and closes within 180 days, the exchange proceeds.

Should a 1031 buyer identify all three properties with signed purchase contracts? +

No. Signed contracts on multiple properties create earnest money at risk on properties that will not ultimately close. The standard practice is to identify without contracts and negotiate first on the preferred property, moving to the backup only if the preferred property falls through.

Can Austin raw land qualify as 1031 replacement property? +

Yes, if held for investment. Raw land purchased for long-term appreciation satisfies the like-kind test. Raw land purchased with the intent to develop and resell quickly does not, because flip inventory is not held for investment under the regulation.

Pipeline first, strategy second.

Pipeline first, strategy second. A buyer who knows what Austin inventory looks like by asset class and submarket enters the 45-day window with a shorter list of surprises. Luke Allen's investor-grade shortlists go out by email the same day they are requested. Request a shortlist before the relinquished property funds, not after.

Luke Allen · Licensed Texas Realtor · TREC #788149
(254) 718-2567 · [email protected]

About the Author

Luke Allen

Licensed Austin TX Realtor · TREC #788149 · Full-time since 2019

★★★★★ 5.0 on Google · 41 Reviews

Luke Allen is a full-time Austin TX Realtor with the Austin Marketing + Development Group brokerage. He works with buyers, sellers, and investors across every Austin ISD and the surrounding neighborhoods, from Downtown and East Austin to Round Rock, Cedar Park, and the Hill Country. Every page on this site is written and maintained by Luke. The written content was last updated on November 8, 2026.

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