Austin's long, painful real estate hangover

Getty Images; Tyler Le/BI Ryan McPherson fought hard for his piece of Austin. Back in the spring of 2022, when it seemed like everyone was angling for homes in the Texas capital, he and his wife set their sights on a tidy four-bedroom in a sprawling new development on the east side of town. They bid $20,000 above the asking price, stretching the total to $615,000, and penned a heartfelt letter to the sellers to lock in the deal. Austin was booming, and if the previous two years were any indi...