Just a few months after sales launched, potential buyers have reserved more than half of the luxury Four Seasons-branded residences planned for a high-profile cliff overlooking Lake Austin.

The sales pace for the units is another sign of the Austin region's continued rising real estate market, including the high-end segment, housing industry experts say.

The 179 residences in the Four Seasons project are due to break ground next year. Prices start at $4.1 million.

Reservations began in late September, and hit the half-way mark in just four months, said Eric Moreland, broker associate with Moreland Properties who is handling sales.

Officially named Four Seasons Private Residences Lake Austin, the condominium project will be located on…

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Wouldn’t it be incredible to wake up each morning and sink your toes into sandy, white beaches, look out your window at picture-perfect sunsets, and fall asleep to the sound of waves lapping the shore? For more and more Americans with unlimited (or at least jumbo) bank accounts, this is their life. The overall real estate business may be going through challenges lately, but make no mistake: The high-end luxury market is booming.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, demand for luxury homes in popular vacation areas, particularly along the coasts, has surged. The newfound ability of many of these wealthiest buyers to work remotely, more baby boomers retiring earlier into their forever homes, and cheap mortgages fueled the rush into some of the most…

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Shocker—Austin’s luxury real estate market is booming but after an especially fruitful year, the capital city is joining the big leagues for high-priced homes.

According to a study comparing industry-wide sales activity done by real estate agency Compass, Austin saw a 450% increase in $10 million-plus real estate transactions from 2020-2021, placing it among the 30 highest-value markets in the U.S.

With 11 total transactions totaling $189 million, the sales volume in Austin jumped 562% since 2020, putting the city markedly higher than major cities like Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Jersey Shore, New Jersey; Long Island, New York, and Washington D.C.

Dallas was the only other Texas city to be included on the list and nearly mirrored Austin’s…

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The population of Leander soared 123 percent from 2010 to 2020, and the growth shows no signs of letting up. A new report from residential real estate platform Opendoor provides further evidence of the continued popularity of the Williamson County suburb.

Leander’s 78641 ZIP code ranks second on Opendoor’s new list of the country’s 10 most popular ZIP codes for homebuyers. To develop the list, Opendoor analyzed home sales in 2021 in the more than 40 markets where it operates brokerages.

Chris Westrom, Opendoor’s senior general manager in Austin, says Leander benefits from the population and job growth occurring throughout the metro area.

“Leander … offers residents a smaller-town charm while only being about 30 miles outside of the hustle and…

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Inspire Development has broken ground on Pearson Ranch, a 156-acre mixed-use project that aims to bring office space, retail, hotels, housing and parks to an area developers called Williamson County’s “burgeoning technology corridor.”

Located at the northeast corner of SH 45 N and West Parmer Lane, the development is 2 miles from Apple’s $1 billion new campus. Pearson Ranch will feature 2.6 million square feet of Class A office space; 200,000 square feet of retail, restaurant and community spaces; two hotels, thousands of multifamily housing units; and 30 acres of parkland, according to a Jan. 31 release from Inspire Development.

In the release, Pearson Ranch developers said the community is designed to attract local restaurants and retailers and…

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A $500 million development that calls for more than 2,500 houses, 1,500 multifamily units and commercial space is in the works for fast-growing Southeast Austin

The developer is Houston-based Hines, an international real estate firm. Its partners are Vancouver-based Trez Capital, based in, Dallas-Fort Woth-based Caravel Ventures and Tokyo-based Sumitomo Forestry.

The project — which is being called Mirador — will be developed at a cost of more than $500 million, according to Hines executives. The company said financing is in place, but did not provide additional details.

The Hines-led development group said this week that it has closed on the sale of the 1,400-acre site for the project. The property is bounded in part by Pearce and Wolf…

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Austin homebuyers have been through the wringer in the past year—tales of offers well over asking price, sales in under an hour, and months-long supply chain shortages have become commonplace in the city's cutthroat housing market. So it's perhaps no surprise that many homebuyers are looking for greener pastures as they stake out large empty lots along the city's outskirts.

After casually searching for a home for years, Austin influencer and blogger Jane Ko experienced the pandemic housing surge firsthand when she found an empty lot near the airport in the summer of 2020. Stretched thin by high demand and limited supply, Austin's median home prices had already reached a then-record of $435,000 in August of that year, while new inventory grew by…

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With the new year clocking in, we asked for some crystal ball predictions about the one thing all Austinites, rich and poor, think about: housing.

The big picture: Where and how we live remains a central question amid Austin's influx of wealth.

The folks at home listing site Zillow say that if you're set on a bargain, look to the smaller cities outside of Austin.

  • Home buyers want to live in sunny states, but price hikes in markets like Austin make less expensive nearby markets more attractive. The Sun Belt region, including Austin, should expect another big year, according to a Zillow outlook.

What they're saying: "From April to August, Austin held the top spot in quarter-over-quarter home value growth, which is a good indicator of…

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Key Points

  • Home prices have soared but still present a bargain relative to other areas -- for now.
  • Those areas include Silicon Valley, a place some major employers are leaving for Austin.
  • A burgeoning population underpins the argument that a buy now will pay off later.

Austin, Texas, fell from the No. 1 spot in 2021 to a predicted No. 10 in 2022 on Zillow's list of hottest housing markets in America. Tampa, Florida, has assumed the top spot, but Austin is still a very robust market.

The capital region of the Lone Star State has seen explosive population growth, the most of any large metro area in the United States from 2010-2020, according to the U.S. Census, swelling by a third in 10 years to nearly 1 million in the city itself…

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Austin's housing market is booming. The market reflects what is happening in other major cities across the country. While activity appears to have slowed slightly in recent months, Austin's residential real estate market remains extremely hot, with prices increasing significantly over the last year. Austin real estate remains a seller's market, owing to low-interest rates, strong in-migration, a rapidly recovering local economy. In November, the Austin housing market continued its record-breaking pace.

Despite a calming trend, it is still on track for a record-breaking year. While home sales in the Austin-Round Rock metro area fell 4 percent, the median sales price increased 29 percent year over year to $470,000, setting a new November record. A…

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