"Dripping Springs may grow, add 300-plus homes"

Austin Business Journal reports, "Dripping Springs City Council will this week consider annexing and rezoning nearly 100 acres, clearing the way for hundreds of homes to rise in the fast-growing city west of Austin.

The property in question is a 97.4-acre slice of land located along U.S. Route 290 just east of Dripping Springs, according to the meeting agenda. If the annexation goes ahead and the land is rezoned as a planned development district, the project, known as Gateway Village, could have 307 single-family homes with lot widths of 50 to 60 feet. Plans also call for 7.2 acres of commercial land and 22.36 acres of open space.

The landowner is Cannon Family Ranch Partnership Ltd., which has owned the property since December 1999, according…

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"Lake Austin luxury development employs VR to place owners in homes before they're built"

Austin Business Journal writes, "the Four Seasons Private Residences Lake Austin is still a few years away from completion on Bridge Point Parkway near the Pennybacker Bridge.

In the meantime, prospective buyers can experience the luxury residential development's homes and amenities through virtual reality, an example of how new technology is changing the marketing of real estate.

Site work began Feb. 8 on the project but, by donning a pair of VR goggles, one can already walk around the 145-acre Lake Austin property's sprawling homes and more than 100,000 square feet of amenities.

Jonathan Coon — partner at Austin Capital Partners, which is co-developing the project with Four Seasons Hotel and Resorts and Hines — believes the use of VR to…

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"RentSpree Partners with Austin Board of REALTORS® MLS to Serve Central Texas Housing Market"

PR Newswire reports, "RentSpree, the industry's premier end-to-end rental management software provider, today announced its latest partnership with the Austin Board of REALTORS® and its 20,000+ member MLS, the Austin/Central Texas Realty Information Service, to facilitate the instant creation of an ApplyLink™ for rental listings. 

With over 25,000 total residential leases closed through the ACTRIS MLS in 2022, this full integration helps Central Texas REALTORS® generate more leads, reduce transaction time, and lower operating costs.

"Over half of Austin households are renter-occupied, and our region's rental market is just as fast-paced and in-demand as residential home sales at large," said Emily Chenevert, chief executive officer of ABoR and…

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"Housing Market Predictions For 2023: Are Home Prices Finally Becoming Affordable?"

Could a housing recovery possibly be underway?

In March, mortgage rates ended the month over 30 basis points lower than where they started and more buyers returned to the market. Home sales prices fell year-over-year in February—the first time in nearly 11 years—and total home sales saw their largest monthly percentage increase since July 2020. However, many economists remain mixed about how much more home prices will drop this year.

For one, the nation’s housing supply remains limited. Those who purchased homes in recent years at record-low interest rates are staying put. Tight inventory issues, in part, are also keeping prices from dropping off, which is perpetuating affordability challenges for many, especially first-time homebuyers.

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"On the House: What First-Time Home Sellers Need To Know To Be Successful This Spring"

Q: What are some tips for homeowners who hope to sell their homes this spring?

Realtor.com shares, "this month, we’re mixing it up. Instead of focusing on first-time homebuyers, we’re going to shift our attention to first-time home sellers who are spiffing up their properties to list this spring or summer.

It’s not expected to be an easy housing market for anyone—buyers or sellers. The COVID-19 pandemic-era real estate frenzy, where just about every home seemed to sell in a bidding war over a single weekend, has mostly passed. Fewer buyers can afford to buy with mortgage interest rates so high, and those who can may not be able to afford to go as high anymore.

But sellers still have a pretty big advantage: There are many more shoppers…

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"Build It and They Will Come: 10 Surprising Cities Where New-Home Construction Is Booming"

Realtor.com writes, "where are America’s new homes?

That question keeps boiling up to the surface, as buyers grapple with the current state of the housing market. High prices and soaring mortgage rates are driving affordability into the dirt. And lurking at the center of all buyer challenges is one towering and inescapable bugaboo: the lack of available homes. It’s simple math. Fewer homes = increased competition, higher prices, and epic levels of frustration.

Last year, new-home construction permits for single-family dwellings declined by about 14% over the previous year—and it’s hardly a new trend. Since the 1990s, U.S. housing starts per 1,000 households have been about half of what they were for the preceding 30 years. The building slowdown…

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"Austin home buyers have more power when it comes to inventory, report says"

Culturemap Austin writes, "confidence in the real estate market has grown since February, with buyers gaining more leverage through inventory increases across the Austin-Round Rock metro area, according to the latest monthly report from the Austin Board of Realtors (ABoR).

The report shows that housing inventory in February spent an average of 84 days on the market, a massive 55-day jump from February of 2022. The current median home price for the metro area is $436,419, a 12 percent drop from the previous year.

“Austin’s housing market is trending in the right direction. Buyers have more options and negotiating power with each passing month, and sellers have more time to make their next move,” said 2023 ABoR president Ashley Jackson in a press…

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"This April week is the best time to list your Austin-area home, data says"

KXAN Austin writes, "wondering when the best time is to list your Austin home? New realtor.com data states it’s coming up soon.

The study shows the week of April 16-22 is the best time to list a home in the Austin-Round Rock metro area. This week is forecast to have above-average prices, above-average buyer demand, a fast market pace and lower competition from other sellers.

This week is also the best week for most other metros in the country, the report said, including the Houston metro. San Antonio’s best week is the following week, April 23. The report said the week of March 26 is the best time to list Dallas-Fort Worth homes — bucking the national trend.

Best times to list your Texas home

“The week of April 16-22 is expected…

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"Austin Housing Market Forecast"

U.S. News reports, "given the enormous popularity of the greater Austin, Texas, area for online searches, newcomers and employment growth, it may act as a reasonable bellwether for the state of the U.S. housing market. This will certainly be tested in the spring and summer selling season, when the National Association of Realtors reports that about 40% of sales of existing homes throughout the U.S are historically made between the months of May and August. Besides offering warmer weather, buying a home during these months allows buyers with school-aged children to shop, bid, close and move into a new residence before the start of a new school year.

Similar to the overall U.S. housing market in mid-2020, the Austin housing market went into…

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"Is the Housing Market About To Hit Rock Bottom? Here’s What That Means, and Why We May Be Here for a While"

Realtor.com writes, "today’s housing market has been in some deep doldrums by many standards, but the latest real estate statistics suggest something more serious might be ahead—that the market might be careening toward some sort of rock bottom.

“Taken as a whole, this week’s data lines up with other indicators that are pointing to a potential bottom in housing market activity at a fairly low level,” notes Realtor.com® Chief Economist Danielle Hale in her most recent analysis.

The only upside we can think of is that there’s typically nowhere to go from there but up. So, does that mean the worst days of real estate will soon be over? Not quite, since the big four harbingers of housing—home prices, inventory, days on the market, and mortgage…

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