Luxe Austin Homes - homeowners

"More transit-focused zoning under consideration at Austin City Hall"

Austin Business Journal writes, "The second phase of Austin’s HOME Initiative and other wide-reaching land use changes are set to be considered at City Hall in the coming weeks. The goal: To hack away at Austin's housing affordability problem and prepare the city for its planned light rail system.

Bigger development will be needed along the 10-mile light rail route — especially at train stops. The project, on track to cost about $4.8 billion in current years’ dollars and begin construction in 2027, will be supported through federal transit funding if the city can prove that its land-use regulations will support the new transit network.

If approved, the new policies will usher in a wave of opportunities for developers and existing homeowners.

…

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"Existing-Home Sales Surge in a Positive Sign for This Year’s Housing Market"

Realtor.com writes, "This year’s housing market is off to a strong start.

Sales of existing homes, which exclude new construction, jumped 9.5% from January to February, according to a recent report from the National Association of Realtors®. That was the largest month-over-month increase in a year.

However, sales did dip a little annually, coming down 3.3% from February 2023.

The surge in monthly closings is likely due to the drop in mortgage rates, which began declining last fall. This brought more buyers into the market and, importantly, might have persuaded more homeowners to sell their properties. As most sellers are also buyers, many have been reluctant to trade a low mortgage rate for a higher one.

Mortgage rates averaged 6.87% for…

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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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"Many new homes hitting the Austin metro market are priced affordably for first-time buyers, ABOR says"

Austin Business Journal shares, "New listings for homes for sale in the Austin metro surged in February, a rise driven largely by lower-priced homes that are considered affordable for first-time homebuyers, according to data from the Austin Board of Realtors.

February saw 3,915 new home listings in the metro, according ABOR’s latest market report. That’s up from just 3,064 in January, and an increase of more than 40% year-over-year from the 2,764 new listings reported in February 2023.

ABOR housing economist Clare Losey said many of the new listings are for homes priced under $400,000.

“Higher home prices and mortgage rates have diminished affordability for first-time homebuyers over the past few years, but February provided encouragement for…

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"The Austin housing market just won't quit. It's an example of what's happening nationwide despite high prices and interest rates."

Business Insider writes, "just when some people thought the Austin, Texas, housing market was going to crash, it's starting to heat up again.

It could be a sign of relief for homeowners across the US — but bad news for hopeful buyers.

This sudden surge in Austin housing sales is a bit surprising. Not only were some experts predicting the downfall of the city's housing market just a few months ago, but interest rates have been back on the rise in 2024, reaching their highest level since December. However, Austin isn't the only city beating the odds; prices are still rising in 85% of US cities even though 91% of all homes are deemed "overvalued."

The inventory of houses for sale in Austin and the number of houses that sold both increased…

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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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"Pending Home Sales Post Biggest Jump Since June 2020 as Mortgage Rates Fall"

Realtor.com shares, "The numbers: U.S. pending home sales shot up in December as falling mortgage rates brought buyers back into the market.

Pending home sales rose 8.3% in December from the previous month, according to the monthly index released Friday by the National Association of Realtors.

Pending home sales reflect transactions where the contract has been signed for a the sale of an existing home, but the sale has not yet closed. Economists view it as an indicator of the direction of existing-home sales in subsequent months.

The jump in pending-home sales was the largest since June 2020, when it rose by 14.9%.

The sales pace exceeded expectations on Wall Street. Economists were expecting pending home sales to increase by 2% in…

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"How to Get Rid of PMI: Tips to Ditch Private Mortgage Insurance Fast"

Realtor.com shares, "most people with private mortgage insurance want to know how to get rid of it. And for good reason: PMI tacks on a substantial extra fee to your already massive mortgage payments. Lenders traditionally require PMI for borrowers who put down less than 20% on a house. Of course, it’s a godsend if you couldn’t afford a home otherwise. But once you have PMI, is there any way to let it go?

For starters, let’s get one thing straight: “Mortgage insurance is neither good nor bad,” says Michael Brown, branch manager for Churchill Mortgage in Nashville, TN. “It can help people become homeowners who would not otherwise qualify because they don’t have 20% to put down. But in the long run, the removal of mortgage insurance could save home…

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"First plots sold at 1,000-acre luxury residential community near Lake Travis"

Austin Business Journal reports, "the first 50 homesites have been sold at Travis Club, an incoming luxury neighborhood on Lake Travis. It's set to rise on more than a thousands acres 15 miles west of downtown Austin.

These first homeowners are being recognized as the “50 founding memberships” of the resort-style community that is being developed by Menlo Park, California-based real estate developer Haas & Haynie Corp. and Austin-based real estate investment firm Castle Hill Partners Inc., according to a Nov. 1 announcement.

This marks a notable step forward for the project that has been planned for more than a decade on the undeveloped bend of Lake Travis between Thurman Bend Estates and the Briarcliff community. This area, and just about all…

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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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