Luxe Austin Homes - Grossman & Jones Group

"Austin takes top spot as 'best-performing' US city"

Posted by Grossman & Jones Group on February 6th, 2024

Austin Business Journal reports, "the Austin area has retaken the top spot on the Milken Institute's prestigious 2024 Best-Performing Cities list.

Such a listing will undoubtedly draw the eyes of people looking for a new place to live or start a business, and it combats anyone's perception that Austin has passed its prime.

The index from the nonprofit think tank has been published annually since 1999 and ranks cities on a variety of metrics, including job creation, wage growth and output growth. Designed to help the public and private sectors evaluate and compare cities throughout the nation, the list is particularly handy for Realtors, job recruiters and site selectors.

Austin's position this year at the summit of Milken's largest cities…

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"Pending Home Sales Post Biggest Jump Since June 2020 as Mortgage Rates Fall"

Posted by Grossman & Jones Group on February 5th, 2024

Realtor.com shares, "The numbers: U.S. pending home sales shot up in December as falling mortgage rates brought buyers back into the market.

Pending home sales rose 8.3% in December from the previous month, according to the monthly index released Friday by the National Association of Realtors.

Pending home sales reflect transactions where the contract has been signed for a the sale of an existing home, but the sale has not yet closed. Economists view it as an indicator of the direction of existing-home sales in subsequent months.

The jump in pending-home sales was the largest since June 2020, when it rose by 14.9%.

The sales pace exceeded expectations on Wall Street. Economists were expecting pending home sales to increase by 2% in…

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"Hutto is Austin's best suburb for first-time homebuyers, report indicates"

Posted by Grossman & Jones Group on February 2nd, 2024

Austin Business Journal shares, "Hutto is the best market for first-time homebuyers in the Austin area, according to a new analysis by Realtor.com.

The analysis identified the best markets nationwide for first-time homebuyers, as well as the top local city or suburb in major metro areas. Realtor.com examined median home listing prices, available inventory, forecasted price growth, commute times and unemployment rates when compiling the data.

The report lists median home prices of about $387,000 for Hutto, which is about 30 miles northeast of downtown Austin in Williamson County. That compares to a metro-wide median price of about $500,000, according to Realtor.com. The Austin Board of Realtors tracks slightly lower numbers on those fronts. ABOR…

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"Applications open soon to build three homes on one lot through Austin's new HOME Initiative"

Posted by Grossman & Jones Group on February 1st, 2024

Austin Business Journal reports, "developers and homebuilders hoping to take advantage of a new program that will allow up to three residential units to be built on a lot currently zoned for one are about to get their chance.

That's because the HOME Initiative goes into effect Feb. 5, and those who are interested can start applying at that time.

Applications must be submitted through Austin's residential plan review process, according to a new city information hub devoted to the HOME Initiative, which stands for Home Options for Middle-income Empowerment.

The initiative allows the construction of up to three dwellings on lots currently zoned SF-1, SF-2 and SF-3. Most single-family homes in Austin fall into one of those zoning categories.

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"Travis County lifts moratorium on PID agreements"

Posted by Grossman & Jones Group on January 31st, 2024

Austin Business Journal shares, "after a four-year hiatus, Travis County is reintroducing a tool designed to support large-scale developments.

The Travis County Commissioners Court on Jan. 30 lifted a moratorium on public improvement districts, or PIDs, after nearly a year of review.

That means developers can begin submitting applications for new PID agreements Feb. 1.

PIDs enable counties and cities to levy additional taxes on sites to pay for specific project-related improvements. They're used in counties across Texas to help cover some costs to developers, such as road construction, water and wastewater systems and landscaping, when they build master-planned communities and other big projects.

Before unanimously voting to lift their PID…

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"Blackstone eyes massive multifamily development in North Austin"

Posted by Grossman & Jones Group on January 30th, 2024

TheRealDeal reports, "a Blackstone subsidiary is gearing up for a big multifamily project in North Austin.

Link Logistics Real Estate Management, led by CEO Luke Petherbridge, filed to rezone the  6-acre site at 11209 Metric Boulevard to allow for a five-story complex with nearly 500 units, the Austin Business Journal reported. 

The project, called LL Braker, according to city filings, is also slated for 5,000 square feet of retail space and structured parking. It’s unclear if the residential units will be apartments or condos. A one-story warehouse, built in the 1980s and spanning 85,000 square feet, would be demolished for the project.

Link Logistics is requesting to change the property’s industrial zoning designation to allow…

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"Austin homebuilder using unusual method to rapidly build 900 homes in Georgetown"

Posted by Grossman & Jones Group on January 29th, 2024

Austin American-Statesman reports, "hundreds of homes are headed for fast-growing Georgetown, north of Austin in the five-county Central Texas region..

Aztec Group's Brell Tarich and Jason Shapiro arranged $33.25 million in construction financing for the first phase of the single-family housing development. Aztec is a real estate investment and merchant banking firm based in Miami.

The builder, Onx Group, is a Texas-based residential developer that uses cutting-edge technology to streamline the pre-construction, manufacturing and assembly process. Through its proprietary construction method — X+ — Onx manufactures individual rooms, bathroom pods, walls and more at offsite production facilities near its housing developments.

In November, Onx…

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"New-Home Sales Jump as Buyers Snag Lower Mortgage Rates"

Posted by Grossman & Jones Group on January 26th, 2024

Realtor.com writes, "more folks snapped up newly built homes last month thanks to lower mortgage rates.

The number of new homes for sale and sold in December jumped 8% compared with just one month earlier, according to a recent government report. Sales rose 4.4% year over year, according to the seasonally adjusted numbers in the U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development report.

That was a reversal from November, when the number of sales fell 9% from October.

“This month’s new-home sales data suggests that eager buyers are ready and willing to jump into the housing market with each improvement in affordability,” Realtor.com® senior economic research analyst Hannah Jones wrote in her new-home sales commentary.

…

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"Possible new subdivision could be part of Caldwell County boom"

Posted by Grossman & Jones Group on January 25th, 2024

Austin Business Journal shares, "additional details have emerged about a housing development in Maxwell that could be part of a boom in rural Caldwell County. 

Schulle Farms, an 800-plus home subdivision planned for the small community, is envisioned by Austin-based real estate brokerage and land development company La Tierra Realty LLC, said Trevor McManis, a broker with the firm.

La Tierra, which has amassed around 1,100 acres over the past four to five years in what it considers a region primed for growth, will be marketing the land to homebuilders.

“This is an area that we really believe in,” McManis said. “We think there’s a lot of value here, and it’s kind of been the area outside of Austin that a lot of people have maybe overlooked…

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"Austin-area home foreclosures were up in 2023, joining nationwide trend"

Posted by Grossman & Jones Group on January 24th, 2024

Austin Business Journal reports, "property foreclosures in the Austin metro climbed in 2023 — tracking a rise in local unemployment — but were relatively low by historic standards.

Foreclosures, which are legal proceedings by mortgage lenders to seize property when borrowers are in default, numbered 1,438 in the area last year, up 389 from 2022, according to Attom Data Solutions, a real estate information company.

Despite what equates to a 37% increase, however, the figure is below the levels immediately prior to the Covid-19 pandemic and well under those seen more than a decade ago on the heels of the last recession.

Foreclosures were up across the state and nation last year. They rose 51% in the Houston metro compared to 2022, 19% in the…

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