Grossman & Jones Real Estate Blog - austin

"The best time for Austinites to list their home"

AXIOS Austin writes, "It's prime time to list homes in Austin, according to a new Zillow report.

Why it matters: Sellers who listed their homes in early spring last year made more money on the sale than at any other time of the year.

The big picture: The "best time to sell," per Zillow researchers, depends on where you live, and the season starts early in Austin.

• Across the U.S., homes listed late last May sold for 1.6% more — typically $5,600 — than any other time of year.
• San Jose, California; Seattle; and San Diego also saw price premiums in March, while late fall was prime time to sell in Tampa Bay and Phoenix.

Zoom in: Listing Austin-area homes in the second half of March boosted the final sale price by 2.3%, or about $10,400, on…

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"REALTORS RANKED Who sells the most?"

Austin Business Journal shares, "The ABJ's 26th annual Residential Real Estate Awards luncheon on March 27 honored some of Austin's top-selling Realtors and homebuilders.

Realtors are ranked by the value of homes sold in 2024. Some sold only a handful of homes but they were big transactions, while others became winners by focusing on volume and selling more than 100 homes in 2024. Information is supplied by the Realtors or their agency.

Even with elevated interest rates and other factors slowing home sales, the Realtors who entered this contest put up impressive numbers this year.

The roughly 50 winners honored in this contest moved more than $3 billion worth of real estate last year. Collectively, these agents sold more than 3,300 homes in…

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"The Hottest U.S. Housing Markets"

U.S. News & World Report writes, "With inflation through February slowly heading in the right direction and 30-year fixed mortgage rates recently settling in at about 6.7%, hopeful homebuyers are slowly edging back into the housing market. But is it enough to unlock a semifrozen housing market?

The good news is that according to Freddie Mac, applications for mortgage purchase loans were up 5% year-over-year through mid-March. At the same time, with stock markets in flux and consumer sentiment dipping sharply in recent weeks, if concerns about rebounding inflation and job security continue to build, that could prompt some buyers to wait for more certainty.

Still, even if consumers hold back on high-ticket items such as new cars,…

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"Why Is Everyone Moving to Texas?"

House Beautiful writes, "Texas is hot these days. To be fair, Texas is usually pretty hot, but the real estate and rental market? Sizzling. Lately, it seems as though everyone is moving to Texas, picking up stakes all over the country to relocate to the Lone Star State. But why? What is this sudden draw, and will it last?

According to a recent report by real estate news site Redfin, the three most affordable cities for renters in the country are Dallas, Houston, and Austin, and all three metropolitan areas are actually improving in these fields. Austin, in particular, has the most favorable rental affordability rating in the country, with renters in the city earning a median income of just over $69,000 per year. A full 25.1 percent more than they…

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"Austin metro's smallest county is among the fastest-growing in the nation"

Austin Business Journal shares, "Caldwell County Judge Hoppy Haden isn't surprised that his largely rural county is among the fastest-growing in the nation.

"I told somebody the other day that doesn't come as shock to me because I've been living it for the last three years," Haden said.

Newly released U.S. Census Bureau data pegs Caldwell County — the smallest of the Austin metro's five counties — at No. 9 on the annual list of fastest-growing U.S. counties among those with populations of at least 20,000.

The population of Caldwell County grew to 52,430 in 2024 from 50,107 a year prior — a 4.6% increase that doubled the metro's overall 2.3% growth rate. Still, all four of the metro's other counties — Travis, Williamson, Hays and Bastrop —…

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"By the numbers: Home prices cool, rental rates dip in Austin"

ATX Today writes, "Curious about the Austin housing market? Whether you’re buying, selling, or renting, February’s data reveals key trends to know.

A new Unlock MLS report shows home prices are cooling while rental costs are lowering slightly. The report compares data from February 2024 to February 2025, covering single-family homes, condos, and townhomes.

Take a look at the numbers shaping Austin’s real estate landscape."

Sales

• The median sales price dropped to $430,000 — a 3.9% decrease.
• Active listings jumped 16.7% to 10,235.
• 3,826 new listings hit the market — a 6.5% spike.
• The total sales dollar volume fell 4.9% to $1.05 billion.

Leases

• The median rent dipped 2.4% to $2,195.
• Active leases rose 3.5% to 3,899,…

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"Austin metro tops 2.5M residents"

Austin Business Journal shares, "The Austin metro gained an average of about 159 people a day from 2023 to 2024. While that may sound like a lot, it's down slightly from a growth rate of 171 a day during the previous 12-month period.

According to new figures from the U.S. Census Bureau, the metro's population climbed by about 2.3% from July 2023 to July 2024, an addition of 58,019 people that brings its total to 2.55 million — the first time it has topped the 2.5 million mark. That factors in everything including people who move here, babies born here and deaths.

At 2.3% growth, that's a slight decline from the 2.6% clocked in the previous 12-month period, when the metro — which consists of Travis, Williamson, Bastrop, Hays and Caldwell counties…

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"Home sales launch in massive Flora neighborhood in Hutto"

Austin Business Journal writes, "A sprawling master-planned community in Hutto is coming along as another homebuilder opens up sales within it.

Nevada-based Tri Pointe Homes, one of the busiest volume homebuilders in the metro, now has homes ready to purchase in the master-planned community, said Bryan Havel, Tri Pointe’s Austin division president. Work on Flora, an 835-acre project in Hutto developed by Precedent Land Company, began in March 2024.

Other homebuilders involved in the first phase of Flora, which Havel said is being built on about 50 acres, include Brightland Homes, Meritage Homes, Empire Communities, Perry Homes, Highland Homes and Westin Homes, according to Flora’s website. Of those, Westin is the only homebuilder not marketing…

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"A solution to housing affordability in Austin?"

Austin Business Journal writes, "Build-to-rent neighborhoods cropping up all around Austin could be one solution to the metro’s crisis-level shortage of affordable housing, some experts contend.

Developers like Arizona-based NexMetro Communities and Empire Group of Cos. have build-to-rent projects set to open here soon. The neighborhoods — which consist entirely of single-family homes built for rental use — are largely in the suburbs, such as Empire Group's projects in Hutto and NexMetro's projects in Liberty Hill and Georgetown.

Empire Group partner Randy Grudzinski said the model is intended to address affordability by offering something between renting an apartment and owning a home.

Build-to-rent homes "allow people to have an interim…

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"Habitat for Humanity's Carter Work Project targets Whisper Valley for affordable homes"

Austin Business Journal shares, "In its latest effort to help address Austin's affordability crisis, Habitat for Humanity plans to build more than two dozen homes in East Austin’s Whisper Valley community and make them available at below-market prices, with hundreds more planned throughout the metro over the next several years.

The nonprofit is doing so in Whisper Valley through its 2025 Carter Work Project, an annual event that started in 1984 when President Jimmy Carter volunteered with Habitat to build and renovate homes. In Austin, the project will see 25 homes built in a single week this year, with prices starting around $150,000.

“When we think about the Carter project, it’s really about not just a local story, but a national and…

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