Luxe Austin Homes - homes

"Why Are Homeowners Seeing Prices Drop?"

U.S. News reports that, "for just about any homeowner, talk of falling home prices can spark panic. With homeownership being the major financial and personal investment it is, there's a natural anxiety that comes with any potential threat to that investment.

However, housing market activity to date does not show a year-over-year decline of home prices – at least not yet. While some data sets show small month-to-month home price declines, month-to-month data is more volatile and does not signal a drastic shift in the market on its own.

There is a marked deceleration in home price growth due to a combination of already high home prices, high mortgage interest rates, low housing inventory and economic uncertainty on a larger scale.…

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"Study makes case for investing in cheaper housing as Austin group buys more apartments for moderate-income rentals"

Austin Business Journal writes, "a new report challenges the idea that investing in more affordable housing developments yields lower returns than luxury apartments — bringing added weight to a local fund that aims to maintain cheaper housing.

The report from Southern Methodist University and the University of Texas at Austin finds that moderate-income rental housing is a viable and profitable investment for those seeking to support a fund that embraces environmental, social and governance principles, or ESG.

Supported by Affordable Central Texas Inc., which controls a low-cost housing fund in Austin that has raised tens of millions of dollars, and the Wells Fargo Foundation, the study aimed to define a profitable asset class called…

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"Buyer Bargains: Here Are the 10 U.S. Cities Where Home Prices Are Dropping the Most Right Now"

According to realtor.com, "The inconceivable is happening. After two-plus years of unimaginable and seemingly inexorable growth, home prices are falling from their heady peaks over the summer.

The reason: Higher mortgage interest rates have thinned out the ranks of buyers who can still qualify for a home loan and sharply reduced the price of the homes the remaining few in the market can afford. Gone are most of the frenzied bidding wars and six-figure offers over the asking prices. Homes are now sitting on the market longer, inventory is piling up, and sellers—at least in some markets—are cutting prices.

Ironically enough, they tend to be the areas that fully dominated the real estate market during the COVID-19 pandemic, with big influxes of new…

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"Austin boasts some of the biggest houses in the country, new ranking shows"

CultureMap Austin writes "If everything’s bigger in Texas, that should include our homes, right? Well, a new study shows homes in the Lone Star State are among the biggest in the country — but not the biggest.

Texas appears at No. 11 on American Home Shield’s list of the states with the biggest houses. In Texas, the average home is 2,170 square feet, well behind top-ranked Utah (2,800 square feet).

But don’t despair, fellow Texans. Six Texas cities, including Austin, land on American Home Shield’s list of the top 20 major cities for home size. This list looks at average home sizes in the country’s 50 largest cities.

After reviewing more than 500,000 U.S. home listings from Zillow, American Home Shield concluded that Austin's average home…

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"Phoenix real estate firm on a roll in Austin area, with another home rental community planned"

According to the Austin Business Journal, "A Phoenix-based builder of rental homes is increasing its investment in the Austin area to $164 million with its latest land purchase.

NexMetro Communities LLC announced Sept. 16 the purchase of 25 acres in Liberty Hill, where the company will construct a neighborhood of 260 single-family rental homes called Avilla Rio Oaks. It will join two other NexMetro projects in the works for in the suburbs around Austin; the company already announced another in Liberty Hill and an additional community in Georgetown.

"NexMetro is actively seeking new sites ideal for our luxury leased Avilla Homes neighborhoods in multiple Austin submarkets," stated Jason Flory, managing director of NexMetro's Austin division.…

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Palladius Capital gets apartments in fast-growing Austin suburb

A major real estate investor in Austin has acquired a sizable apartment complex in the fast-growing suburb from a prominent developer based in the city.

Palladius Capital Management acquired the 342-unit, located in Kyle from Endeavor Real Estate Group, which completed the project earlier this year.

The sale price was not disclosed.

Kyle and other areas south of Austin have proven to be a popular market for multifamily construction and projects as of late

The complex Palladius got is called Citizen House Kyle, and located along the I-35 Innovation Corridor, part of the larger Dry River District, which includes a 65-acre mixed-use community also being developed by Endeavor Real Estate Group. The deal for the apartment complex includes one-…

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Austin company taking tiny home rentals to San Antonio

Austin-based Casata Corp., a developer of small home rental communities, is turning its gaze on San Antonio as it expands across the rest of Texas.

The company, founded in 2020 by developer Aaron Levy, is scouting five locations around San Antonio for a 200-unit community of built-to-rent homes with floor plans ranging between 400 and 800 square feet.

"We like cities where jobs are being created," Chief Operating Officer Zain Mahmood told San Antonio Business Journal.

The company also looks at the entertainment and shopping options nearby.

Mahmood, who was introduced to Levy through mutual friends and brought on as co-founder, said that when the group set up its pilot project, Casata Austin, the community was 82% leased before construction…

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200-plus homes may sprout in Northeast Austin subdivision

Sixty-eight acres in Northeast Austin have been zoned for single-family, small lot construction by the city’s Zoning and Platting Commission.

Plans indicate there are 211 plots at 4806 Blue Goose Road, just east of Cameron Road. Commissioners approved the zoning as part of the consent agenda at their Sept. 6 meeting, following a recommendation by city staffers.

The final number of homes could change.

The project is spearheaded by RR Braker Valley LP and Jeremy Smitheal, a partner at Austin-based real estate investment firm Riverside Resources. The company is behind several major commercial projects across the city, including plans to transform part of West Sixth Street.

A representative for Riverside Resources confirmed the firm is behind…

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Adjustable-rate mortgages are on the rise, but borrower profile has changed

Adjustable-rate mortgages are more popular this summer than they've been since right before the Great Recession.

The share of mortgage applications for ARMs rose to 12.6% in June before they dipped to 12.2% in July, according to an analysis by Seattle-based Zillow Group Inc. (Nasdaq: ZG). It's the first time since August 2007 the share of ARMs among mortgage applications has been more than 12%.

While that could trigger some alarm bells, the conditions today — including lending standards — are very different than the years leading up to the housing crash of the late 2000s, said Jeff Tucker, senior economist at Zillow.

"It's something to keep an eye on but, at the moment, it doesn’t look concerning to us," Tucker said. In the years leading up…

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iBuyers, short-term rental owners could see divergence as investor activity plateaus in Q2

Investor activity began to plateau in the second quarter but even with higher interest rates and a slowing housing market, it's likely some groups will continue to find opportunity.

Real estate investors bought 87,500 U.S. homes in the second quarter, up 11% on a quarterly basis and 5.9% higher year over year, according to Seattle-based Redfin Corp. (Nasdaq: RDFN). Investors bought an all-time high of 93,700 homes in Q3 2021 but, as Redfin notes, investors continue to buy more homes than they did pre-pandemic.

Investors purchased a record $60.1 billion worth of real estate in Q2, and their market share was 19.4% of all homes purchased last quarter (down from 20.5% in Q1).

Defined by Redfin and most industry groups as an institution or…

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