Luxe Austin Homes - housing

"Home prices stabilize as real estate options in the Bastrop County area increase"

Community Impact writes, "A rise in housing options and interest rates has led to an increased number of houses available to potential buyers in Bastrop and Cedar Creek.

The population in Bastrop County was 106,000 as of 2022, a 20% increase from 2019, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau. In the same timeframe, the number of housing units in the county increased by over 27% from 31,085 to 39,539.

“I think we can attribute this [population growth] to several factors—the rise in remote work options, competitive home prices compared to our nearby markets, and the ease of commuting from most of the Bastrop-Cedar Creek area into Austin or other areas,” said James Beck, Bastrop County Board of Realtors president and owner of Centum Oak Realty.

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"$112M mixed-use redevelopment with affordable housing, artistic space coming to East Austin"

Community Impact Austin shares, "A pair of mixed-use developments with affordable housing and cultural spaces are coming to vacant city-owned lots in East Austin's African American Cultural Heritage District.

The big picture

Local stakeholders and agencies have been working for years on a plan to transform Austin's "Blocks 16 and 18" sites on the 900 and 1100 blocks of East 11th Street.

The framework that's now moving forward was one of two proposals under consideration by Urban Renewal Board—which oversees the "blighted" East 11th and 12th street area under the city's Urban Renewal Plan—since last summer. After months of review, a final outline for the blocks' redevelopment advanced July 18.

“This milestone for Blocks 16 & 18 marks a significant step…

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"McKinney, Round Rock, Austin rank in top 10 best cities for renters"

Bay News 9 shares, "A few Texas cities and the South in general were heavily featured in the best places for renters to live in a new report.

RentCafe, an apartment listing service that conducts research on the real estate market, posted its annual rankings of the best cities for renters earlier this month. Its rankings were determined by looking at 20 different metrics in three categories–cost of living and housing, the local economy and quality of life. 

While Charleston, South Carolina, took the top spot for the second year in a row, three Texas cities ranked in the top 10. 

McKinney, a city in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, came in at No. 4 on the list because of its “lower-than-average cost of living, high-end apartments in top locations…

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"Austin Rent Prices Drop as City Sees Flood of New Apartments"

Newsweek writes, "Austin, Texas, led the nation in dropping rent prices for the month of June, according to a new report from Realtor.com.

The South generally saw a surge in housing units as more builders target the area because of mass migration post-pandemic.

After Austin's year-over-year rent drop of 9.5 percent, San Antonio, Texas, and Nashville, Tennessee, also saw significant rent price decreases of 8.2 percent and 8.1 percent, respectively.

"It's difficult to know just yet if this is simply a trend or a long-term slide, but markets that were white hot during the pandemic like Austin and Nashville are experiencing a deceleration in demand," Alex Beene, a financial literacy instructor at the University of Tennessee at Martin,…

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"Austin-area housing inventory edges higher in June with potential price relief on horizon"

Austin Business Journal shares, "Housing stock in the Austin area continues to edge higher, reaching healthier levels not seen in the metro in over a decade — and it's possible lower prices are on the horizon.

The Austin-Round Rock metro's housing inventory reached five months in June — the highest it's been since 2011, according to the latest Austin Board of Realtors and Unlock MLS market report. That's closer to the six months of inventory that housing experts say typically represents a healthy balance between supply and demand, and it's up from a level of 3.7 months of inventory in June 2023.

But what does an increase in inventory mean? According to Clare Knapp, an Unlock MLS and ABOR housing economist, buyers and sellers could expect to see…

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"Active Austin home listings keep rising in emerging 2024 trend, says report"

CultureMap Austin reports, "The latest real estate report from Unlock MLS and the Austin Board of Realtors (ABoR) has revealed that June saw a significant increase in the number of active home listings in the Austin metro area — continuing on a three-month high that began in April — and median sale prices are dropping to accommodate the rise in inventory.

New in the June report, Unlock MLS refers to the Central Texas region as the Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos metropolitan statistical area (MSA), whereas it was previously identified as the Austin-Round Rock-Georgetown MSA.

The data shows there was a 13.4 percent drop in home sales across the Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos MSA, with only 2,732 homes sold in June for a median price of $450,000. There…

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"'Samsung effect' spurs plans for 100-acre residential development in fast-growing Taylor"

Austin Business Journal reports, "A new 100-acre residential neighborhood could be coming to Taylor, where economic growth has been explosive thanks to Samsung’s 2,000-acre, multibillion-dollar semiconductor plant that's under construction in the city.

The development, called Turner Springs, would be home to single-family and multifamily residences as well as commercial and retail properties, according to Taylor Planning & Zoning Commission documents. The commission recommended the project for approval at its July 9 meeting.

If it comes to fruition, the project would be built on two properties that have been owned by an entity known as Turner Bobby Jr Etal since 2000, according to the Williamson Central Appraisal District. Insite…

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"Housing affordability got worse in Q2 — and homeownership costs hit a new high"

Austin Business Journal reports, "Homes across America remained unaffordable for many prospective buyers in the second quarter, with single-family home and condo prices less affordable during that three-month period compared to historical averages in 99% of the nation's counties.

That's according to a recent analysis by Attom Data Solutions LLC, which looked at housing data from U.S. counties with a population of at least 100,000 and that had at least 50 single-family home and condo sales in the second quarter.

The analysis also found that expenses for existing homeowners on median-priced homes are on the rise. Those costs consumed 35.1% of the average national wage in the second quarter, a high point since 2007 and meaningfully higher than the…

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"Austin inches closer to air conditioning mandates for residences"

Community Impact Austin reports, "A new city mandate for air conditioning in all residences is moving closer to final approval, and residents can weigh in on the change in July.

What's happening

The city is in the process of revising its technical codes, including its first proposed air conditioning mandate under the building code.

The update would require all residential property owners to keep rooms at least 15 degrees cooler than outdoor temperatures, and no hotter than 85 degrees Fahrenheit at most.

If implemented, the standards would apply for all existing properties and new construction in Austin.

Austinites can weigh in on the new building code items online until July 24. The revisions will also be discussed at the July 9 planning commission…

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"Meet the Ander Condo Project, Bringing Nearly 200 Homes to West Anderson"

TOWERS Austin writes, "Here’s a completely true thing you can say that will greatly irritate many people: Condos are pretty rare in Austin. Although they’re the boogeyman of choice for locals lamenting the relentless march of time, the fact is that the vast majority of new multifamily residential construction in Austin delivers apartments for rent, rather than condos for sale. Of the thousands upon thousands of new housing units constructed in the region since the start of the pandemic, condos make up about five percent or less of that total, and this isn’t great news for first-time homebuyers, since condos are often significantly less expensive than detached single-family homes.

The reason developers tend to prefer apartments over condos is all…

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