Luxe Austin Homes - austin metro

"Austin rents lose steam, with second-steepest decline in December among major U.S. metros"

Austin American-Statesman reports, "just as it is a buyer's market in Central Texas' single-family housing market, so too is it a renter's market in the Austin-area apartment market.

Likely to the dismay of landlords and delight of tenants, Austin saw the second-steepest yearly decline among metros in the latest study by Rent.com.

Rents in Austin dropped 12.5% in December compared with December 2023, according to the study, which tracked rates in the nation's 50 largest metros.

Asking rents in Austin were $1,985 a month in December, versus $2,270 a month the prior December, the study said.

Austin's decline was followed by Raleigh, North Carolina, where rents dropped almost 12.2% to $1,873, and the Las Vegas-Henderson-Paradise metro, where…

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"Austin’s HOME Initiative won’t change much — for now"

Austin Business Journal writes, "a new policy allowing up to three homes to be raised on some single-family lots is one of the most high-profile changes to Austin's land use code as it tries to combat high home prices and adopt a big-city mentality.

But experts said the program will not have a notable effect on the local housing market for the foreseeable future — plus, there's the specter of a lawsuit scaring some developers off.

The first phase of what's called the HOME Initiative launched Feb. 5. That's when homeowners and developers could start to submit applications. Landowners can either sell the new, smaller homes or they can rent them out. The impact of the change will only become measurable in the months and years to come, but the…

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"New subdivision set to rise in small community south of Austin"

Austin Business Journal reports, "hundreds of acres of housing are set to rise on the southern reaches of the Austin metro, the latest indication that it just keeps on growing.

Caldwell County commissioners on Jan. 9 unanimously approved a development agreement for a subdivision in Maxwell, potentially encompassing more than 200 acres. With the Austin area embroiled in a seemingly never-ending struggle to build enough affordable housing, the homes in this new development would be going up in one of the most affordable pockets of the region.

The subdivision, known as Schulle Farms, would be built on 227 acres off Maxwell’s Fifth Street if the development goes forward. Schulle Farm Partners LP is behind the project, although the identities of…

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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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"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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"Austin home sales and prices expected to drop in 2024 according to new Realtor.com report"

Austin American-Statesman writes, "soaring home prices in recent years could calm down in 2024 after a report from Realtor.com predicted a drop in both home sales and prices for the Austin-Round Rock Area. 

Specifically, the real estate website predicted home sales in the Austin metro area would fall by 11.7%, while prices would fall by 12.2% compared to both of those marks in 2023. 

Moreover, across the country, the website predicted median home prices would fall by a much smaller 1.7%. However, it should be noted that larger, and recently more expensive, markets are expected to see bigger drops in price. 

How are other Texas housing markets expected to perform in 2024?

While the Austin area is predicted to see the biggest combined…

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"North Austin neighbor has one of the hottest ZIP codes in the U.S. for new apartments, report finds"

CultureMap Austin writes, "nearly all of Austin has experienced a flurry of apartment construction to accommodate the equally expanding population in the last few years. In fact, five Austin-area zip codes were the hottest markets for new apartment construction between 2018 and 2022, according to a new rental market analysis by RentCafe.

Pflugerville makes a pflying leap over Austin
Most impressive in the Austin metro region, ZIP Code 78660 in Pflugerville was the No. 20 hottest market in the U.S., with a 64.5-percent growth rate for apartments. Nearly 3,900 new apartments were built in the last five years, according to the study.

Austinites and newcomers pflocking to Pflugerville likely moved there for its easygoing city life. H-E-B has also…

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"Amid surging demand for industrial space in Central Texas, more is underway in Austin"

Austin American-Statesman writes, "amid ongoing demand for industrial space in Central Texas, a project near Austin-Bergstrom International Airport landed $18 million in financing.

MDH Partners, an Atlanta-based real estate investment company, closed on $17.8 million in financing from Regions Bank for the project, called 71 Logistics Center.

The industrial building, which will have 216,000 square feet of space, broke ground in August on 45 acres near the airport. 

The building is at Texas 71 and Norwood Lane, 6 miles southeast of the airport, in the five-county Austin region that is home to more than 2.2 million people.

Once completed in the second quarter of next year, 71 Logistics Center will increase MDH Partners’ Texas footprint to…

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"Austin-area housing inventory rises as affordability challenges mount"

Austin Business Journal reports, "the Austin metro’s housing inventory is the highest it’s been in more than eight years.

Inventory in the region hit the four-month mark in September, according to the Austin Board of Realtor’s monthly market data. Inventory represents how long it would take to sell all of the homes on the market if new listings stopped, and housing experts say six months of inventory typically represents a healthy balance between supply and demand.

While that may sound promising for a region that's experienced a dearth of new homes, it takes some pain to have the gain. The number of closed sales is notably down. ABOR housing economist Clare Losey said this could be caused by a number of factors, including high interest rates and…

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"Pearlstone envisions denser Austin, forges ahead with $700M in urban housing"

Austin Business Journal writes, "amid a year of muted activity for commercial real estate development, Pearlstone Partners LLC is betting big on the continued allure of Austin — it has three new projects up its sleeve that could total about $700 million in construction costs. That's on top of Robert Lee and his team forging ahead on three under-construction projects expected to deliver from early 2024 through 2025.

The Austin-based company just unveiled details on three multifamily communities planned to rise on prime sites, spread from Rainey Street to the northwest side of the Central Business District. All three are still in the investment phase, meaning they may not deliver for a few years.

Demand for housing has slowed across the board in…

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