Luxe Austin Homes

"How a ‘Dry January’ Mindset Can Get You Closer to Buying a Home in 2024"

Realtor.com writes, "the “dry January” challenge of giving up alcohol for a month got us thinking about kicking some other bad habits that might be holding us back.

We’re not talking about giving up carbs for a month or an afternoon latte, but the not-so-great things you might be doing as a wannabe homebuyer. Not to point fingers here, but many home shoppers fall prey to a faux pas or two when making what’s likely the most significant purchase of their lives, especially in today’s brutal housing market.

To help you get closer to your homebuying dreams, consider taking the month of January to hit the reset button and think about the strategies that aren’t working in your favor. Ready for a homebuying reset? Read on.

Bad habit No. 1: Shopping…

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"Economists predict mixed results for 2024 Texas real estate"

Researchers expect real estate in Texas to slow in single-family home prices but increase in other areas.

KVUE reports, "real estate experts now have an idea of what to expect this year for Texas real estate.

The KVUE Defenders pulled information from the Texas Real Estate Research Center at Texas A&M University, The Austin Board of Realtors and the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas.

In the first quarter of 2023, the home price index for Austin-Round Rock was -8.43%, according to Texas Real Estate Research Center. Records show it fell again by double digits (-11.86%) in the second quarter. The home price index for Austin-Round Rock showed -6.19% for the third quarter.

The Texas Real Estate Research Center and Austin Board of…

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"Affordable Homes for Sale Through Austin Community Land Trust"

The Austin Chronicle writes, "if you're a native Austinite looking to buy a roughly $200,000 house, a batch of affordable homes are up for grabs through the city’s community land trust program, and the window to apply for eligibility is open now.

The Austin Community Land Trust, established following City Council’s passage of a resolution in 2018 aimed at slowing gentrification through a variety of measures, began accepting new applications for the program Jan. 1. The application window closes Jan. 31. Applicants must be first-time home buyers with a household income of no more than 100% of Austin’s Median Family Income (currently, $85,600 for a single person) and proof of generational ties to Austin. Previous applicants need not reapply.

Land…

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"IBM signs lease for lab space in Northeast Austin"

Austin Business Journal writes, "IBM Corp. is making some big changes to its Austin operations.

Big Blue, one of Austin’s original tech titans, settled on the location for its future regional hub at the northern tip of The Domain in the first half of 2023, and now it is adding 50,000 square feet of lab space in Northeast Austin to its real estate inventory, according to a Jan. 9 announcement. IBM (NYSE: IBM) plans to outfit a state-of-the-art development lab at Karlin Real Estate LLC’s Parmer Impact Labs, located along East Parmer Lane not far from Samsung's Austin factory.

IBM's lease at the facility is the latest example of an entity with a research-and-development focus making a move to the Parmer campus, following the University of Texas at…

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"Are bidding wars over? Here's how many Austin homebuyers are paying above asking price"

Austin Business Journal writes, "while high interest rates are prompting many sellers to drop prices at a record pace nationally, 13% of homes in the Austin metro are still selling above the listing price.

That's according to a new analysis of data from Redfin Corp., which found 32% of homes nationally sold above listing price in October — up 2.7 percentage points from a year ago.

As we've noted, a variety of factors suggest the housing market is shifting to give buyers more leverage in many markets. However, prices remain significantly elevated and, in many metros, are still on the rise — just not at the rapid pace of recent years.

In the Austin metro, homes sold for an average of 97% of the listing price in October.

Housing supply and…

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"Northland Living plans 35-story condo tower in downtown Austin"

Austin Business Journal reports, "plans are coming into focus for a new mixed-use tower downtown.

Northland Living, a development arm of Canadian hospitality giant Northland Properties Corp., has revealed new details for its planned condo tower in downtown Austin called Luminary.

The building, which will feature almost 290 condos, will rise on less than an acre at the northwest corner of 14th and Guadalupe streets, where it will stretch 35 stories and 400 feet skyward. It's one of the first local projects by Northland Living, which began establishing a presence in Central Texas in 2023.

The tower will be home to 286 one-, two- and three-bedroom condos, plus 4,800 square feet of ground-floor retail and one level of office space, though square…

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"U-Haul: Austin ranked No. 5 among top cities for one-way moves in 2023"

Austin Business Journal shares, "Austin was among the hottest destinations in the country for where people were moving last year, according to the latest annual ranking from U-Haul International Inc.

Austin ranked No. 5 among the top U.S. growth cities in 2023, and Texas was again named the top state for move-ins for the third consecutive year, according to data released Jan. 2 and Jan. 3.

U-Haul collects migration data from more than 2.5 million one-way U-Haul truck, trailer and moving container rentals for the year. It ranks the top "growth states" and "growth cities" by net gain, which contrasts the number of one-way U-Haul trucks entering a city or market versus those leaving.

U-Haul migration trends don't directly correlate to an area's…

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"Apartment rents have declined in Austin recently, but will the trend continue into 2024?"

Austin was one of the top three U.S. metros that saw the most significant rent declines in November, a new report says, and some experts believe the trend could continue into next year.

Austin experienced a 5.4% decrease year over year, with a median asking rent of $1,575. That's according to Realtor.com’s recently released November Rental Report. The other two metros that had the most significant rent declines were Orlando, Fla., (down 6%) and Dallas (down 4.1%).

In mid-November, Orphe Divounguy, a senior economist at Zillow, said the Austin housing market has cooled down due to the construction boom and declining housing affordability in the past year.

"As the vacancy rate rises, the growth of rent (and home values) is anticipated to…

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"Texas is winning the US economy"

Business Insider writes, "Texas is becoming the poster child of the US economy.

A new Wells Fargo analysis determined that Texas is outpacing many states regarding GDP and employment growth, despite some struggles in commercial real estate.

These findings echo a Bank of America report from earlier in December that determined the Southeast's economy may outpace other regions of the US.

In 2023, Texas experienced the third-fastest growth in terms of population, increasing 1.6% between July 2022 and July 2023 — compared to 0.5% nationwide. This amounted to about 473,000 new residents, many moving from different states.

In 2023, net domestic migration — the number of people who moved into Texas from another state, minus those who moved out —…

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"What it takes to own a home in Austin's wealthiest ZIP codes"

Austin Business Journal Reports, "the Austin-Round Rock metro area became slightly more affordable for homebuyers in 2023, but it’s still much more expensive to own within Austin's city limits than almost anywhere else in the region.

That’s according to recent data from Zillow Group Inc. analyzed by the Business Journals. In each of the metro's ZIP codes, the minimum annual income required to purchase a typical home declined anywhere from 4% to 18% in 2023, as of Nov. 30, compared to 2022, the analysis found. Annual mortgage payments also dropped, while median home values declined at a rate of 1% to 13% across the region.

The Austin Business Journal annually tracks the wealthiest ZIP codes in the metro, so it's already well-known where the…

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