Luxe Austin Homes - home value

"Dallas-Fort Worth, Austin are some of the nation’s top real estate markets, study says"

Spectrum News writes, "some of the top real estate markets in the nation are in the Lone Star State, according to a recent study.

The data comes from WalletHub, which used metrics like real-estate market rank, affordability and economic environment to rank U.S. cities.

In the top 10 alone are five Dallas-Fort Worth area cities, including McKinney, north of Dallas, with a total score of 72.33; Richardson, a Dallas suburb, with a score of 68.11; Denton, with 66.52; and Allen with a score of 66.35.

Making the top 20 were Fort Worth and Austin, with close scores of 65.31 and 65.13, respectively.

“Current home prices are extremely important, but there’s much more that you need to look at when determining the health of a city’s real estate…

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"Household Real Estate Value Falls in the First Quarter of the Year"

Realtor.com writes, "In a slight setback for homeowners, $200 billion was shed from the total value of household real estate during the first months of 2025—but it remained the fourth-highest on record.  

The aggregate market value of all U.S. homes owned by those living in them retreated to $47.9 trillion during the year's first quarter, down from $48.1 trillion at the end of 2024, according to the most recent release of the Federal Reserve Z.1 Financial Accounts.

This reflects a continued pullback from the highest total of $48.8 trillion, recorded in the second quarter of 2024, according to a recent Flow of Funds analysis by Realtor.com® economists. Yet despite the downturn that has occurred across three consecutive quarters, homes gained $960…

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"Half of Texas homeowners don't know they can protest taxes, study says"

CultureMap Austin shares, "some people might be surprised to find out that their taxes are negotiable — at least when it comes to real estate. Specifically, 53 percent of Texas homeowners don't know they can protest their home's property tax evaluation, according to a study by Ownwell, a service that makes homeowners' cases for them.

Put simply, since homeowners are taxed on the assessed market value of their home, an over-appraisal by the local tax office can lead to paying too much in taxes. Homeowners in this situation can lower what they owe by telling tax appraisers what they believe the real value of the home is, and the two entities will negotiate to find an acceptable number. Appraisals reflect the value of the home on January 1 of that tax…

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"Elevated prices, interest rates will continue to curb housing affordability in 2025"

Austin Business Journal reports, "Homebuyers and sellers in the Austin metro likely will see little change in prices and inventory in 2025.

That's because median sales prices are likely to hover around the $450,000 mark reported in December 2024, and interest rates are expected to stay high, according to Clare Knapp, housing economist for the Austin Board of Realtors and Unlock MLS. It's a combination that's considered unaffordable for many first-time homebuyers, which means the onus is on homebuilders to build more homes with lower price tags to help move the needle on affordability in the metro.

A first-time homebuyer can typically afford to pay three times their income for a home, putting many in the market for a home in the $300,000 to $400,000…

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"Where wealthy people live"

Austin Business Journal writes, "In his 2005 State of the City address, then-Austin Mayor Will Wynn — fresh off leading the Downtown Austin Alliance — had a goal of 25,000 people living in downtown Austin.

At the time, about 5,000 people called the Central Business District home. Almost 20 years later, downtown is still far short of that goal but growth has ramped up as thousands of new apartments and condos rise toward the sky. 

The DAA now pegs downtown's population at about 15,000. Almost 900 were added last year, DAA reports. They come for the high-rise living, entertainment, quality restaurants and urban hike-and-bike trails.

It's an appealing package if you can afford it — the downtown ZIP code, 78701, is now the wealthiest in the area…

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"The housing market is slowing but home prices are still going up"

Austin Business Journal writes, "this year's housing market, beset by high interest rates, is on track for the lowest number of homes sold in 12 years.

Fannie Mae, the government-sponsored mortgage financing organization, projects total home sales in 2023 to be about 4.8 million, the lowest since 2011, and only slightly higher in 2024 at 4.9 million. The total amount of mortgage originations for 2023 is expected to be about $1.56 trillion, down from what Fannie Mae had originally projected to be $1.6 trillion this year.

Fannie Mae sees personal spending to be at unsustainable levels relative to American incomes and it projects a "modest economic contraction" in the first half of 2024, combined with mortgage rates hovering above 7%.

And while…

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"Properties in Austin have skyrocketed in value over the last 25 years. Here are the top 10 US areas where house prices have grown."

• Property values in Austin have soared over the past 25 years, an analysis from SmartAsset found.
• The study analyzed average home value data in metro areas from 1998 to 2022.
• Texas dominated the top 10, with five of the top spots taken by areas in the state.

Business Insider reports, "home values in the Austin area have soared over the past 25 years. 

The Texas city snagged the top spot along with neighboring areas Round Rock and Georgetown in a recent study from SmartAsset. The financial technology company found property values in the metro area had jumped 354% since 1998. 

The study analyzed average home value data in 400 metro areas between 1998 and 2022, calculating collective increases to measure growth and drops in value…

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