Luxe Austin Homes - Grossman & Jones Group

"More homes, commercial development on tap for Williamson County after MUD wins approval"

Austin Business Journal reports, "Hundreds of homes could soon rise in a new municipal utility district in Williamson County between Georgetown and Liberty Hill.

Williamson County Commissioners Court approved a development agreement for the MUD, called Hudson Park, on Oct. 1. The roughly 122-acre project from Sugar Land-based Ashton Gray Development will be built along Ronald Reagan Boulevard and feature single- and multifamily residences as well as commercial lots, Ashton Gray President Shaun Vembutty said.

It's another in Ashton Gray’s long project pipeline aimed at some of the more rural areas of the metro. The developer works on retail centers, master-planned subdivisions, multifamily projects, senior living communities and mixed-use…

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"Luminary condo tower downtown to begin construction and sales next year"

Austin Business Journal shares, "Downtown Austin’s next condo tower is slated to begin construction and sales in 2025, and the West 14th Street property already is generating plenty of interest.

Luminary, a 400-foot-tall condo tower from Northland Living, a development arm of Canadian hospitality giant Northland Properties Corp., will have 293 condos along with ground-floor retail space and one level of office space.

Kevin Burns, CEO of Austin-based Urbanspace, which is handling marketing and sales for the project, said there's already been more than 400 inquiries for the condos even though sales haven't officially started and prices haven't been set.

"And that’s without spending the advertising dollars," he said. "That’s just simply sending…

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"The advantages of sustainable living in East Austin’s Whisper Valley"

CultureMap Austin writes, "Named Austin’s 2023 Master-Planned Community of the Year by the Home Builders Association of Greater Austin, Whisper Valley is a 2,063-acre community focused on sustainability, healthy living, technology, and affordability. Developed by Taurus Investment Holdings, this innovative community has created the blueprint for residential master-planned communities of the future.

Located on rolling terrain in East Austin, Whisper Valley homes are extremely energy efficient, tech-savvy and served by Google Fiber and AT&T 5G Fiber, offering future-proof homes that are zero energy-capable.

Whisper Valley is powered by the innovative EcoSmart Solution, a green energy supply system that uses a GeoGrid to harness the renewable…

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"Austin makes new list of 10 easiest cities to pay off a mortgage"

CultureMap Austin writes, "Whether a homeowner's mortgage lasts for 15 or 30 years, paying off such a large debt can be an arduous process. But luckily for homeowners living in the Austin area, paying off a mortgage is much easier than it is in many other large metropolitan areas in the country, according to a new report by SmartAsset.

Austin-Round Rock-Georgetown ranked No. 10 in SmartAsset's new study analyzing the top 40 large U.S. metros where it's easiest to pay off a mortgage. Rankings were determined based on the principal and interest payments for conventional 30-year fixed rate mortgages issued in 2023, relative to the median income of new homeowners.

Leading the nation as the No. 1 easiest place to pay off a mortgage is Pittsburgh,…

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"5 Austin neighbors lauded as best small cities in America"

CultureMap Austin writes, "Living in the big city isn't for everyone, which is why many are flocking to the suburbs and less-populated cities around Austin. To demonstrate the popularity of suburban and rural communities, a new study by WalletHub has identified five Austin suburbs on their 2024 list of the "Best Small Cities in America."

The extensive report compared over 1,300 U.S. cities with populations between 25,000 and 100,000 residents based on 45 livability metrics across five main categories: Affordability, economic health, education and health, quality of life, and overall safety. Cities were grouped by percentile, where the 99th percentile encompasses the top one percent of small American cities.

A total 19 U.S. cities all qualified…

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"2024 Q4 housing market trends: Rate relief arrives"

Bankrate.com writes, "Leaves aren’t the only things falling this autumn: Mortgage rates are finally heading down, too. And that, combined with a seasonal dip in home prices, is causing some end-of-year excitement among homebuyers and sellers.

The median existing-home price was $416,700 in August, per the National Association of Realtors — a record high for August, but still down from $422,600 a month earlier. And average rates for the benchmark 30-year fixed-rate mortgage loan have dropped from a high this year of 7.39 percent in May to 6.24 percent in late September.

With rates already down more than a full percentage point and more Fed interest-rate cuts on deck, many market-watchers are asking, what do the final three months of 2024 have in…

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"Contract Signings Rise as Buyers Eye Market Opportunities"

Realtor Magazine writes, "Pending home sales rose slightly in August as lower mortgage rates provided some motivation to prospective home buyers. But buyers continue to face challenges such as high home prices, and many may be holding out for even lower rates, surveys show.

The National Association of REALTORS®’ Pending Home Sales Index—a forward-looking indicator of home sales based on contract signings—eked out a 0.6% increase in August. Contract signings, however, remain 3% lower than a year ago.

Still, last month’s “slight upward turn [in contract signings] reflects a modest improvement in housing affordability, primarily because mortgage rates descended to 6.5% in August,” says NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun. “However, contract signs…

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"This is how committed Austin homeowners are to keeping up curb appeal"

CultureMap Austin writes, "Austin's tremendous growth over the years has brought a boom in residential development. There are beautiful homes to be found throughout the area, and Austin homeowners are among the best in the country at maintaining their curb appeal — or at least the most committed.

So says Thumbtack's 2024 list of the top 10 cities with the best curb appeal in the country, which ranks Austin No. 2 for the second consecutive year. The study was based on an analysis of curb appeal projects from August 2023 to August 2024, which was ranked by project frequency.

Maintaining beauty doesn't come cheap. Thumbtack, a home services website, found that Austinites should budget nearly $3,600 for their autumn outdoor projects – such as gutter…

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Another big development appears to be on tap for booming Williamson County

Austin Business Journal shares, "Hundreds of acres between Hutto and Taylor are newly primed for development. 

That's because Williamson County commissioners approved a development agreement for a 343-acre municipal utility district at their Sept. 24 meeting. Little is known about development plans for the district — known as North Fork MUD — but it could bring with it a huge influx of homes.

For example, a similarly sized development, Trinity Ranch in Elgin, will have more than 1,700 homes.

Plano-based GRBK Edgewood LLC is the project developer for the North Fork MUD, and its listed address in the development agreement matches that of Plano-based Green Brick Partners Inc. (NYSE: GRBK). Green Brick didn't immediately respond to requests for…

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"Two new housing developments planned for fast-growing Hutto"

Austin Business Journal reports, "Hutto’s wave of housing construction shows no sign of slowing, with two new projects in the works for the rapidly growing community northeast of Austin.

The two projects, discussed at a Hutto City Council meeting earlier this month, would add hundreds of housing units to the rural city, where the population has more than doubled over the past decade.

The first of the two projects, known as Meadowbrook, is being developed by Columnar Investments, said John Landwehr, Columnar’s Colorado and Texas executive director. Meadowbrook would rise on roughly 88 acres along Farm to Market 1660 on Hutto’s southeastern edge.

For now, plans for Meadowbrook call for around 325 to 370 attached and detached single-family…

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