Luxe Austin Homes - housing

Prolific infill developer StoryBuilt to bring 100-plus homes to South Austin

South Austin is set to receive a badly needed injection of infill housing.

Locally based StoryBuilt will develop 116 homes on 15 acres in South Austin, according to a July 25 announcement. The development will mostly consist of single-family detached homes with some attached townhomes, StoryBuilt Austin Division President Ross Wilson said.

It's the latest infill project for StoryBuilt, which aims to grow the city from the inside out, he said.

The neighborhood will be located at 8420 Longview Road, in South Austin off West Gate Boulevard. Construction is not expected to begin until summer 2023.

"We're really excited about this opportunity," Wilson said. "Obviously it's a big parcel in South Austin. It's very well connected to downtown and…

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Austin’s real estate is 'inching' toward normalcy as market shows signs of stabilizing

Knock on wood—real estate professionals are saying Austin’s housing market showing signs of stabilizing as local inventory hit two months for the first time since 2019.

Austin Board of Realtors CEO Emily Chenevert said after two years of pandemic-fueled prices, “we're inching our way toward something that feels more normal,” during the 2022 Central Texas Housing Summit—which brought industry professionals and economists together—on Tuesday.

Still, housing is one of Austin’s biggest fallbacks despite a diverse local economy, growing infrastructure investments, multiple nearby universities and a healthy job market. Stable housing falls in tandem with affordability, Austin Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Laura Huffman said.

“So what could…

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ABoR: Study calling Austin's housing market overvalued is flawed without context

We all know buying and building homes in the Austin area is expensive. Austin is outpacing other Texas cities when it comes to development fees for builders, and home prices have skyrocketed.

A recent study by Florida Atlantic University ranked Austin as the second-most overvalued housing market in the country. But is that true? Ashley Jackson, president-elect of the Austin Board of Realtors (ABoR), joined KVUE Midday to dig deeper.

Jenni Lee: According to Florida Atlantic University, buyers in Austin pay just a little bit more, but 67% more than they should. So, demand for new and existing homes is there, but there's not enough supply. Is the Austin housing market overvalued?

Ashley Jackson: "No, I do not believe the Austin…

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48-story condo tower planned for Austin's Rainey Street district

An Austin-based developer plans to start construction next year on a 48-story residential tower in the Rainey Street district on downtown Austin’s southeast side. The proposed high-rise would add to the ongoing building boom in the Rainey Street area, and in downtown in general. 

Pearlstone Partners plans to build the tower on two adjacent tracts that span from 62 East Ave. to 64 East Ave.  Although plans are still preliminary, Pearlstone executives say they envision a tower with 48 stories and 245 condominium units, although those numbers “could all very much change as we move through the design process,” said Chris Zaiontz, a Pearlstone senior vice president and principal.

The project still needs to wind its way through the city of Austin’s…

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Austin home listings surge, topping nation

Housing inventory in the U.S. jumped dramatically in June, and Texas’ capital city leaped the highest.

Active listings in Austin are up 144.5 percent over June of last year — the largest increase in the 50 largest U.S. metros by a long shot — according to Realtor.com’s June housing trends report. The number of active listings nationwide has increased 30 percent since the same time last year.

The June median listed home price for the Austin metro was $660,000 in June, up 18 percent over the same period last year, but those high asks are now less likely to hold.

A whopping 32 percent of homes for sale in June were reduced from their original ask — a 24.7 percent increase in the discount share since the same period last year. Nationwide, the…

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City of Austin home price hits record $667,000 as number of homes for sale soars

Once again, the city of Austin's median home price has risen to a new record high.

According to the latest monthly report from the Austin Board of Realtors, the median price in the city limits soared to $667,000 in May 2022, representing an 18.1 percent increase from May 2021 and a significant jump from April 2022, when it hit $640,000. 

While the Austin-Round Rock metro area's median home price held steady in May ($550,000, the same figure as April 2022, ABoR reports), home prices in all five counties in the region continued to climb. Travis County recorded a median home price of $659,000, up more than 21 percent from a year ago.

But prices weren't the only thing on the rise. In a bit of good news, the Austin market saw active listings grow…

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A&M Economist: Austin's real estate market 'beginning to normalize'

Active listings in Austin swelled by nearly 150% May 2021-2022 as the region begins to recover from the "dangerously low" housing inventory of the pandemic housing frenzy, according to the latest Austin Board of Realtors report.

For the first time since September 2020, the metro saw 1.2 months of available inventory, up from a critically low 0.4 months in early 2020. Still, median home prices continued their ascent and increased almost 20% year-over-year to tie April's record of $550,000.

While Austin's housing market has seen some signs of decline—residential home sales declined 6.7% year-over-year—available homes still spent 15 days on the market, a day less than May 2021. Texas A&M University research economist Adam Perdue said that while a…

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Austin real estate expert talks soaring property appraisals and how homeowners can protest

Texas property owners recently received their property appraisals in the mail. In Travis County, the value of residential properties increased 56% compared to last year, leaving many people wondering what they should do next. 

Ashley Jackson, president-elect of the Austin Board of Realtors, spoke with KVUE's Ashley Goudeau about the appraisals and what homeowners can do. Below are Jackson's answers to some common property appraisal questions.

The deadline to protest an appraisal is May 16. Should I protest mine? Who should protest?

"That is really going to vary on a case-by-case basis. They [property owners] may want to reach out to their trusted Realtor to get some advice about where their market value is to see if they have a…

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Inspire Development embarks on massive Pearson Ranch mixed-use project in Northwest Austin

Inspire Development has broken ground on Pearson Ranch, a 156-acre mixed-use project that aims to bring office space, retail, hotels, housing and parks to an area developers called Williamson County’s “burgeoning technology corridor.”

Located at the northeast corner of SH 45 N and West Parmer Lane, the development is 2 miles from Apple’s $1 billion new campus. Pearson Ranch will feature 2.6 million square feet of Class A office space; 200,000 square feet of retail, restaurant and community spaces; two hotels, thousands of multifamily housing units; and 30 acres of parkland, according to a Jan. 31 release from Inspire Development.

In the release, Pearson Ranch developers said the community is designed to attract local restaurants and retailers and…

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Lennar Homes’ Plans To Build A Neighborhood Of 3-D Printed Homes In Austin

3D-printed housing has arrived, and is ready for the big time. Homebuilding giant Lennar Homes has committed to building the largest neighborhood of 3D-printed homes yet developed. Breaking ground in early 2022 in the Austin area, the 100-home innovative community is co-designed by BIG-Bjarke Ingels Group, using ICON's building technology.

The announcement deepens a relationship that began with Lennar’s investment in Austin-based ICON’s recent $207-million financing round and offers a promising path toward delivering affordable, technology-driven homes that meet rising demand. 

There is a shortage of housing in the country, and labor and materials shortages are a frustrating bottleneck for the homebuilders. 3D printing construction has the…

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