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"Exclusive | The Sand Dollar House Near Austin Lists for $1.99 Million"

The Wall Street Journal writes, "In Texas, a circular, lakeside home with a roof that looks like a sand dollar is hitting the market for $1.99 million.

Located in the city of Lakeway, which is just outside of Austin, the roughly 2,300-square-foot home is perched on a bluff that overlooks Lake Travis.

The sellers are Karena Dawn, co-founder of the fitness brand Tone It Up, and her husband, Bobby Goldstein. The pair came across the home while boating on Lake Travis. When they found out it was for sale, they bought it for an undisclosed price in 2021.

“Anyone who has boated on Lake Travis in the last 40 years has looked up at it,” said the listing agent, Michelle Jones of Compass. She shares the listing with her colleague,…

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"Austin is raking in millionaires — here's the latest tally"

Austin Business Journal shares, "Austin’s millionaire population has grown by 110% over the past decade.

London-based investment consultancy Henley & Partners has determined that roughly 32,700 millionaires now call Austin home, rising from about 15,500 in 2013.

The Texas capital has seen the largest leap in wealth than any other city in the nation, according to the company's 2024 USA Wealth Report that relied on data from New World Wealth, a global wealth intelligence firm based in South Africa.

Henley & Partners found Austin, which ranked 10th in its total population of millionaires, is home to 92 centi-millionaires — people with a net worth of more than $100 million. That would include billionaires such as Tesla Inc. CEO Elon Musk and Dell…

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"570-acre Lund Farm community near Elgin could break ground next summer"

Austin Business Journal reports, "the developers pitching a 570-acre community near Elgin said they were attracted to the area by "the beauty and economics of the blackland prairie" as they aim to create more than 1,800 single-family homes, hundreds of multifamily units and nine acres of commercial space northeast of Austin.

Representatives for New York City-based Blossoms Development LLC provided Austin Business Journal more details about the Lund Farm community, which would be located off State Highway 95, north of Elgin. Intrigue in the project has been building since it was first announced last month at an Elgin City Council meeting.

The project would be the first in Texas for Blossoms, which has global development experience,…

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"An Unexpected Oasis Surrounded by Nature Preserves Thrives Within Austin City Limits"

Realtor.com shares, "just minutes from downtown Austin, TX, sits a beautiful oasis of 3 lush acres. It’s anchored by a 3,272-square-foot home.

The serene, parklike property is available for $9.5 million.

“As soon as you go through the gates, city life is gone. It truly feels like a respite from the city. All you hear when you’re there are birds tweeting and the two owls that live in the trees hooting. You’re truly surrounded by nature. You’re in the wilderness,” says listing agent Wendi Slaton Anderson, with Compass.

“The house is lovely, but it is the land and the lot around it that is exceptional,” adds Slaton Anderson.

‘Very livable’

“The home is really well-maintained, and they’ve done such a great job of bringing the outdoors…

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"A Tale of 2 Housing Markets: Why Some Homes Still Cause Heated Bidding Wars While Others Sit Unsold"

Realtor.com shares, "homebuyers who are closely watching the correction in the real estate market might believe now is a good time to pounce. After all, homes are sitting on the market for longer, those maddening bidding wars have dried up, and wild offers over the asking price are things of the past, right?

Well, not exactly. It all depends on what they’re hoping to purchase.

Those searching for a home are seeing plenty of fixer-uppers, homes lacking curb appeal, and those in less desirable areas sitting on the market for longer and undergoing price reductions. But well-appointed, well-situated turnkey homes are still selling fast, often receiving multiple offers, and even selling over the asking price. It’s as if the housing slowdown hasn’t…

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"Builders Are Slowing Down New Construction Despite the Housing Shortage. What Gives?"

Realtor.com reports, "the nation might be in the clutches of a dire housing shortage, but builders won’t be putting up enough new homes this year to make much of a dent.

Housing starts, which is when construction has begun but not yet completed, are expected to fall to about 744,000 single-family homes in 2023 as builders continue to pull back, according to the National Association of Home Builders forecast. That’s down about 12% from last year.

However, NAHB expects new construction will rebound in the second half of the year, giving a boost to the overall economy.

“Typically, single-family construction tends to recover before the economy rebounds,” says NAHB Chief Economist Robert Dietz. “By the time we get to the second part of the year,…

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"2023’s Housing Market Is Looking Up: 3 Things That Should Give Homebuyers Real Hope"

Realtor.com writes, "after suffering all-time lows during the COVID-19 pandemic, the supply of homes for sale has rebounded with a bang.

January marked a whopping 65% more real estate listings than this same month a year earlier, according to a recent inventory report from Realtor.com®.

And while home prices are still up year over year, they’ve declined from the pandemic peak. January’s median home list price clocked in at $400,000—holding steady since December but much lower than June’s record high of $449,000.

In addition to this deluge of homes for sale at more reasonable prices, mortgage rates are also down from their 20-year high, which broke 7% in November. For the week ending Jan. 26, Freddie Mac found that rates for a 30-year…

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"Are buyers already coming back into the housing market?"

Austin Business Journal reports, "since the start of the new year, there's indications buyers may be — albeit slowly — reentering the housing market, owing in part to mortgage rates that've stabilized since 2022's volatility.

Redfin Corp. (Nasdaq: RDFN) found while pending home sales fell 26% year over year during the four weeks ending Jan. 22, that was the smallest drop in more than three months, and that metric had began rising on a month-over-month basis since December.

Separately, home tours and requests for service for Redfin remain down 23% and 27% respectively from a year prior, but both are an improvement from a November trough of that activity being down 40%.

Pending home sales increased in December for the first time since May 2022,…

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"Real Estate CEOs, Economists & Other Experts Predict a “Less Crazy” Housing Market in 2023, But Expect Any Improvements to be Gradual"

Yahoo Finance writes, "while there is no clear consensus about what will happen to mortgage rates and home sales in 2023, the real estate experts from organizations like the Mortgage Bankers Association, Zillow, Taylor Morrison, and others surveyed in Point’s 2023 Real Estate Expert Survey agree 2023 will likely bring less volatility to the real estate market. But any improvement will be slow.

Point asked experts about where mortgage rates will land this year; what will happen to existing-home sales; and what advice they would give home buyers and sellers.

Key findings include:

• About three-quarters of the respondents expect the average 30-year fixed mortgage rate to stay below 7% in June 2023. By December, every respondent believes rates…

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"The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Homebuyers Today"

Realtor.com shares, "there was a point, not too long ago, when buying a house was fairly straightforward: You’d schedule some tours, make an offer, and boom, you’re in the house before you know it.

Today, though, the housing market is a very different animal—fast, ferocious, and ever-changing. In such an environment, it’s no longer a given that all homebuyers will easily find a house and seal the deal. And even more surprisingly, those lucky folks who do succeed aren’t just sitting on piles of cash. On the contrary, real estate agents and other experts we spoke to say that successful homebuyers today simply possess a particular mindset and behaviors that help them persevere in today’s market.

So what are these qualities, you might ask?

1.…

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