With the median home price in the Austin metro area now well over $550,000, it’s no shocker that a lot of homes would be valued at $1 million or more.

Well, it turns out Austin has the highest share of $1 million-plus homes among Texas’ major metros.

A new study from personal finance platform LendingTree shows 3.51 percent of owner-occupied homes in the Austin area are valued at $1 million or more. That compares with an eye-popping 52.89 percent share in the No. 1 metro on the list, San Jose, California.

The study looks at the number of $1 million-plus homes in the country’s 50 largest metro areas. Austin ranks 12th among the 50 metros (down from No. 11 in 2021), with Houston at No. 17 (2.4 percent), Dallas at No. 20 (2.2 percent), and San…

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It's not just Austin's residential real estate market that's hot. Austin is among the hottest markets in the Southwest for under-construction warehouse and distribution centers.

Data published by Community Property Executive shows Austin had nearly 8.3 million square feet of industrial space under construction in late June. That represents a little over 7 percent of the existing industrial space (more than 114 million square feet) in the region. 

Austin ranks third in the Southwest, behind Dallas and Houston, according to Commercial Property Executive, at Nos. 1 and 2, respectively. Dallas is also the No. 1 market in the U.S., beating out Phoenix (No. 2) and Southern California's Inland Empire (No. 3) nationally.

In Austin and throughout the…

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The president-elect of the Austin Board of Realtors said she expects “a little bit of a decrease” when it comes to future Austin home prices as the previously red-hot housing market begins to show some signs of cooling off.

ABOR President-Elect Ashley Jackson said she doesn’t expect the price drop to be significant and stressed that the market’s fundamentals remain strong.

Her assessment comes after May home sales in the Austin metropolitan statistical area saw a 6.7% year-over-year decrease, although prices continued to rise by 19.6%.

Jackson talked with KXAN about the trends she’s seeing, and whether Austin is in a housing bubble.

This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.

Tom Miller: We’ve seen these skyrocketing…

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After a two-year boom, the United States housing market finds itself at a pivotal moment — but pivoting to what, exactly?

This spring should have been a busy time for home sellers. Instead, the season was a dud, stalled by a dramatic spike in mortgage rates that stunned even industry experts with its chilling effect on the market.

The frenzied environment we had become accustomed to — with its eye-popping price increases and bidding wars that left buyers dejected and sellers giddy — suddenly seemed to be a thing of the past. While buyers stood on the sidelines, recalculating their much larger mortgage payments, sellers began to realize that offers of $100,000 or more over asking might not be forthcoming.

And over in the rental market,…

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A “boutique” development featuring nearly 80 homes will soon get underway in South Austin.

Houston-based David Weekley Homes will offer 79 single-family homes at the Village on Cooper Lane, near South First Street and West Dittmar Road. Prices start in the $600,000s, which is in line with the median home price in the city.

“We’re excited about this new central Austin project, as we know that new home supply in this location is scarce,” Dave Mire, division president in Austin for David Weekley, says in a news release. “This boutique community will be very charming. We will be introducing exciting new product, and we look forward to the response from our homebuyers.”

Each two- or three-story home will measure 1,680 to 2,625 square feet.…

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Austin home buyers and sellers are getting creative to lessen the blow of rising interest rates. Realtors report more people are exploring temporary interest rate buydowns.

The temporary rate buydowns happening right now involve sellers taking some of their profit from the sale and putting it toward helping the buyer make payments at a lower interest rate. It's usually a benefit that sellers only agree to for a couple of years, but it is helping homes sell while rates are high.

For the first time in years the Austin Board of Realtors says the area housing market is stabilizing—something that will help some buyers get back in the game.

"They can be a little bit more relaxed. They can actually have a shot at making one of their offers stick.…

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  • Austin, Phoenix and Raleigh housing markets have gained inventory.
  • Among major metros, they led the nation for inventory growth.
  • Active listings in the Austin area grew by 144% over the past year.
  • These real estate markets are also seeing more price reductions.
  • It’s evidence that these hot housing scenes are cooling in 2022.

Inventory shortage. That two-word phrase has appeared in countless real estate market reports over the past couple of years. In most cities across the country, a shortage of supply relative to demand has frustrated home buyers and boosted house prices like never before.

But now for the good news. We are starting to see some housing market inventory growth in major cities across the country. This trend is…

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Mortgage rates have risen faster this year than they have in decades.

The average 30-year fixed-rate mortgage has been hovering above 5% for more than a month, taking a toll on prospective homebuyers. While many hopeful buyers have bowed out of the market for now, some are exploring what once seemed like an unlikely option: adjustable rate mortgages, or ARMs. The cost of financing a home has risen so much, so fast that many buyers can't afford to buy a home with a traditional fixed-rate mortgage. The typical monthly payment on an average priced home with a 30-year fixed rate loan and 20% down is more than $600 higher now than at the start of this year -- a 44% increase on principal and interest payments, according to Black Knight, a…

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Housing inventory in the U.S. jumped dramatically in June, and Texas’ capital city leaped the highest.

Active listings in Austin are up 144.5 percent over June of last year — the largest increase in the 50 largest U.S. metros by a long shot — according to Realtor.com’s June housing trends report. The number of active listings nationwide has increased 30 percent since the same time last year.

The June median listed home price for the Austin metro was $660,000 in June, up 18 percent over the same period last year, but those high asks are now less likely to hold.

A whopping 32 percent of homes for sale in June were reduced from their original ask — a 24.7 percent increase in the discount share since the same period last year. Nationwide, the…

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Rising mortgage rates due to the rate hikes implemented by the Federal Reserve have put the squeeze on home affordability for many American homebuyers, not to mention raising fears of an impending recession. The housing market in the United States really took off in the pandemic’s second year (2021), with high demand and homes flying off the shelves, leading to diminishing inventories and surges in home prices. With the recent increases in mortgage rates, many housing markets have showed reduced activity. Still, there are many housing markets that have continued to thrive.

Using monthly housing data from Redfin, we analyzed the 200 largest cities in the U.S. by population and determined which housing markets have experienced the biggest growth in…

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