That's because Austin (and Denver and Seattle for that matter) are basically SF Lite. Pick any city that isn't having it's housing market turned upside down by California monopoly money (well, tech monopoly money) and you statement does not apply.
>Pick a city where there aren't many jobs, there isn't much to do, and young people aren't interested in moving their and my antiquated ideas about what the housing market should look like hold. FTFY
I suspect people, especially people considering buying their first home, have a specific profile of locations that behave in this new way because of that interest.
There are cities up and down the east coast and throughout the Midwest that have plenty of jobs and stuff to do. The only thing they don't have is a freight train full of tech startups barreling out of control down a mountain while VCs shovel more coal into the boiler.
Basically just strike SF, NYC, Boston and Seattle of your list. Then strike off every city that lots of people from SF, NYC, Boston and Seattle are cashing out their inflated home values and moving to to raise their families off your list. The US is a big country. You're left with a very long list.
My sample size is <10 but 100% of the first time home buyers I know opted for a 2nd tier city or an exurb that's just barely within commuting range of wherever the big fat salaries are. The nature of the city other than physical location had approximately nothing to do with it. The techies who can drop a quarter mil on a 800ft^2 condo that's within biking distance of work and walking distance of a bunch of overpriced bars are in the minority and not indicative of overall trends. Take your narrow world view and even narrower assumptions of what young people want and shove it somewhere.
Left with a long list of cities maybe, but not many (any?) population centers. Im sure for small N you can find people that want to live an hour deep from the Baltimore suburbs, but the size of the cities you insist on excluding compared to the population of the US would indicate the majority don't hold that position (if they did you'd be complaining about other mega centers since capital tends to follow people).
