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AUSTIN, Texas - East Austin has changed.
"My children were born here grew up here in this neighborhood … I knew everyone in the neighborhood." said Anna Aquino, standing in front of her East Austin home.
Today, things are different. Aquino recognizes few faces in her neighborhood.
"Everyone else has either lost their home, been pushed out, or had to sell their home because they couldn't afford to keep it." she said.
Aquino is worried she could be next.
"I'm hanging in there and I'm hanging in there by a thread and I don't know what else to do. We're being pushed out of the neighborhood, and we can't afford to live any place else."
Working to keep her head above water, she's had to split the home into three sections: one for her daughter, the other for renters. They live without air conditioning.
"If I lost my home and wouldn't be able to pay the taxes, I wouldn't have anywhere to go. I would basically be on the street." she said.
The home sits in Austin's 78721 zip code. Drew Johnson, owner and broker at Austin Craft Realty, says the area is one of the fastest growing in Austin.
"The median year to date price is at $389,000 for this year which is actually a 14.4 percent increase from last year." Johnson explained.
Median prices for single family homes in 78721 have climbed nearly 256 percent from 2011 to 2019.
"That's a big number right, it's kind of a sensationalist number. But at the same time they're two different worlds from now and then. Austin on the eastside is a very different place. Also the numbers a little skewed you have to take into account all the new condos that have come up since then." Johnson said.
Johnson says the current median price for a single family home in the area is $389,000. He says a lot of Craft Realty's clients, mainly "young professionals in tech" are looking to buy homes for roughly $400,000. The area is reaching a "tipping point."
Johnson says the area is currently experiencing what the South Congress area went through almost 20 years ago and what Central East Austin recently went through.