Luxe Austin Homes - for sale

"Austin and Dallas-Fort Worth Tipped as Top U.S. Housing Markets for 2024, Texas Cities Bracing for Surge in Homebuying Interest"

Hoodline.com writes, "the sizzling property markets of Austin and Dallas-Fort Worth are tipped to be the nation's hottest in 2024, with the National Association of Realtors (NAR) planting them atop their forecast for burgeoning housing demand.

Amid a landscape punctuated by rising prices and competitive bidding wars, Texans in these metros might find themselves in an increasingly tight squeeze to land that dream home.

Lawrence Yun, chief economist at the NAR, paints a picture of a local housing market where mortgage rates, although not at their historic highs, continue to shape the playing field.

In an interview with NBC 5 DFW, Yun pointed out that as companies converge on Dallas-Fort Worth, bringing in a slew of new residents, the price tags…

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

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

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

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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"Buyers snap up 60 luxury condos in Horseshoe Bay's first-ever pre-construction sellout"

Austin American-Statesman writes, "Horseshoe Bay Resort, just over an hour's drive west of Austin in the Texas Hill Country, has seen its first-ever pre-construction sellout of 60 luxury condos at a development called Waters Lakeside.

The development consists of three towers with 20 condos each, with the first set for a March move-in date. The second and third towers will open between April and May.

The condos all have three bedrooms ranging in size from 1,500 square feet to 2,300 square feet. They start at $800,000, with the average price of $928,000. The sellout of the 60 condos has generated more than $65 million in sales revenue.

Located between Horseshoe Bay’s yacht club and marina, and just steps from constant-level Lake LBJ, the homes…

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"Economists predict mixed results for 2024 Texas real estate"

Researchers expect real estate in Texas to slow in single-family home prices but increase in other areas.

KVUE reports, "real estate experts now have an idea of what to expect this year for Texas real estate.

The KVUE Defenders pulled information from the Texas Real Estate Research Center at Texas A&M University, The Austin Board of Realtors and the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas.

In the first quarter of 2023, the home price index for Austin-Round Rock was -8.43%, according to Texas Real Estate Research Center. Records show it fell again by double digits (-11.86%) in the second quarter. The home price index for Austin-Round Rock showed -6.19% for the third quarter.

The Texas Real Estate Research Center and Austin Board of…

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"NAR Forecasts 4.71 Million Existing-Home Sales, Improved Outlook for Home Buyers in 2024"

Austin, Texas named top real estate market with most pent-up housing demand next year

WASHINGTON (December 13, 2023) – "NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun forecasts that 4.71 million existing homes will be sold, the housing market is expected to grow, and Austin, Texas will be the top real estate market to watch in 2024 and beyond. Yun unveiled the association's forecast yesterday during NAR's fifth annual year-end Real Estate Forecast Summit: The Year Ahead.

Yun predicts home sales will begin to rise next year – by 13.5% compared to 2023, and the median home price will reach $389,500 – an increase of 0.9% from this year.

"Metro markets in southern states will likely outperform others due to faster job increases, while markets in the Midwest will…

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"Homebuilders turn to incentives to draw in priced-out buyer pool"

Austin Business Journal writes, "homebuilders continue to see sales momentum — despite surging mortgage rates and persistent affordability challenges — in part because they're pulling out the stops to lure buyers and ensure deals cross the finish line.

While a growing share of buyers have been locked out of the housing market because of rising mortgage rates, persistent home-price appreciation and a lack of existing-home inventory, the current environment also is creating some tailwinds for builders that can offer more competitive financing.

Housing starts increased 7% in September to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.36 million units, according to the Department of Housing and Urban Development and U.S. Census Bureau data.

In fact, 31%…

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"Millions of homes are vacant in large cities across America"

Austin Business Journal writes, "there are millions of homes sitting empty across America at a time when inventory and affordability are squeezing the nation's housing market.

According to a recent analysis of U.S. Census Bureau 2022 American Community Survey data by LendingTree Inc., there are nearly 5.5 million vacant housing units in the nation's 50 largest metro areas. That puts the housing vacancy rate across those metros at about 8%.

But the reasons why millions of homes are sitting vacant at a time when the nation's housing market is starved of inventory and home prices remain high — the median price of new houses sold in August was $430,300, down slightly from $436,600 a month prior — are varied and nuanced.

The study found, on…

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