While Yes, housing costs have moved up, others have remained flat (so relatively compared to other cities, have moved down).
As silly as it sounds, my favorite metric is "Cost of Drinking". Find the fancy cocktail bars in any city's downtown. In Austin, nothing on the menu is above $12 at Midnight Cowboy or The Garage. Now compare that to the other cities on this list.
There is absolutely not way that the data is accurate, just alone the velocity of the Austin market guarantees that the data is inaccurate.
I dunno if that's a great metric - or maybe it is and Austin's more expensive than you and I think. Cocktails at Gramercy Tavern are $14.
By any metric I can think of, Austin costs more than it did even three years ago. All of my favorite restaurants are $2-$3 more for an entree than they were when I lived here in the past. And some have been priced out of downtown. Thai Passion (my favorite Thai restaurant anywhere which used the have a $5.75 lunch special) closed recently, and they aren't alone.
Again, it isn't California expensive but it's no longer Texas cheap either.
That said, you can't get a $2 Shiner Bock here.
More seriously, it takes a happy hour. Doc's takes half off all Texas beers.