Luxe Austin Homes - housing

"Luminary condo tower downtown to begin construction and sales next year"

Austin Business Journal shares, "Downtown Austin’s next condo tower is slated to begin construction and sales in 2025, and the West 14th Street property already is generating plenty of interest.

Luminary, a 400-foot-tall condo tower from Northland Living, a development arm of Canadian hospitality giant Northland Properties Corp., will have 293 condos along with ground-floor retail space and one level of office space.

Kevin Burns, CEO of Austin-based Urbanspace, which is handling marketing and sales for the project, said there's already been more than 400 inquiries for the condos even though sales haven't officially started and prices haven't been set.

"And that’s without spending the advertising dollars," he said. "That’s just simply sending…

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"2024 Q4 housing market trends: Rate relief arrives"

Bankrate.com writes, "Leaves aren’t the only things falling this autumn: Mortgage rates are finally heading down, too. And that, combined with a seasonal dip in home prices, is causing some end-of-year excitement among homebuyers and sellers.

The median existing-home price was $416,700 in August, per the National Association of Realtors — a record high for August, but still down from $422,600 a month earlier. And average rates for the benchmark 30-year fixed-rate mortgage loan have dropped from a high this year of 7.39 percent in May to 6.24 percent in late September.

With rates already down more than a full percentage point and more Fed interest-rate cuts on deck, many market-watchers are asking, what do the final three months of 2024 have in…

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"This is how committed Austin homeowners are to keeping up curb appeal"

CultureMap Austin writes, "Austin's tremendous growth over the years has brought a boom in residential development. There are beautiful homes to be found throughout the area, and Austin homeowners are among the best in the country at maintaining their curb appeal — or at least the most committed.

So says Thumbtack's 2024 list of the top 10 cities with the best curb appeal in the country, which ranks Austin No. 2 for the second consecutive year. The study was based on an analysis of curb appeal projects from August 2023 to August 2024, which was ranked by project frequency.

Maintaining beauty doesn't come cheap. Thumbtack, a home services website, found that Austinites should budget nearly $3,600 for their autumn outdoor projects – such as gutter…

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Another big development appears to be on tap for booming Williamson County

Austin Business Journal shares, "Hundreds of acres between Hutto and Taylor are newly primed for development. 

That's because Williamson County commissioners approved a development agreement for a 343-acre municipal utility district at their Sept. 24 meeting. Little is known about development plans for the district — known as North Fork MUD — but it could bring with it a huge influx of homes.

For example, a similarly sized development, Trinity Ranch in Elgin, will have more than 1,700 homes.

Plano-based GRBK Edgewood LLC is the project developer for the North Fork MUD, and its listed address in the development agreement matches that of Plano-based Green Brick Partners Inc. (NYSE: GRBK). Green Brick didn't immediately respond to requests for…

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"Two new housing developments planned for fast-growing Hutto"

Austin Business Journal reports, "Hutto’s wave of housing construction shows no sign of slowing, with two new projects in the works for the rapidly growing community northeast of Austin.

The two projects, discussed at a Hutto City Council meeting earlier this month, would add hundreds of housing units to the rural city, where the population has more than doubled over the past decade.

The first of the two projects, known as Meadowbrook, is being developed by Columnar Investments, said John Landwehr, Columnar’s Colorado and Texas executive director. Meadowbrook would rise on roughly 88 acres along Farm to Market 1660 on Hutto’s southeastern edge.

For now, plans for Meadowbrook call for around 325 to 370 attached and detached single-family…

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"New build-to-rent neighborhood aims to inject housing into fast-growing Leander"

Austin Business Journal reports, "A new build-to-rent neighborhood is opening in one of the fastest-growing neighborhoods in Leander.

Tricon Residential Inc., part of Blackstone Real Estate’s portfolio, is opening Tricon Bryson — a build-to-rent neighborhood consisting of 155 single-family homes — within Leander's wider Bryson development, according to an announcement. The new neighborhood will add to the region’s rental housing supply in Leander, where the U.S. Census Bureau estimates the population has more than tripled since 2010.

“There’s a tremendous need for more housing overall, and every day it’s harder and harder to get a new neighborhood approved and permitted and ready to go, whether for rent or for sale,” said Andy Carmody, senior…

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"First look: Downtown's Modern Austin Residences"

Austin Business Journal shares, "Rainey Street’s latest addition to the downtown Austin skyline has reached its maximum height.

The Modern Austin Residences, a 56-story condo tower, has topped out, according to an announcement. There’s still plenty of work left before it opens — a trip to the tower’s upper floors still requires hopping into an exterior construction elevator — but with the its structural framework complete, the nearly sold-out tower is expected to welcome residents in early 2025.

The tower is being developed by Austin-based Urbanspace, which also is handling sales, marketing, interior design and ground-floor retail operations. Urbanspace will establish its new office in the tower, said Kevin Burns, Urbanspace CEO and founder.

…

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"Texas needs 306,000 more homes to meet demand, experts say"

Community Impact reports, "Texas’ population growth has outpaced homebuilding since 2020, according to the state comptroller’s office, resulting in a widespread housing shortage. Up For Growth, a national housing policy organization, reported that Texas needs about 306,000 more homes to meet demand.

High home prices, steep mortgage rates and limited supply are driving some potential homebuyers out of the market, said Clare Knapp, a housing economist for the Austin Board of Realtors. Texas also had the sixth-highest property tax rate—1.68%—in 2021, according to research from the Tax Foundation.

Home prices shot up during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, Knapp added, as remote work policies allowed more people to move to Texas.

In 2019, the median home…

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"Dense condo development on tap for Taylor"

Austin Business Journal shares, "Taylor is set to get some new housing — in the form of a dense condo project — as economic growth in the rural city foreshadows a population boom.

Austin-based Metropolitan Development Company LLC is behind the condo project on Taylor’s Second Street, according to an announcement. It also will include some commercial space, said Pawel Hardej, principal at Metropolitan Development.

The project — called The Ferguson — will have eight garden homes, 16 townhomes, 60 condos and five live-work spaces on about 1.5 acres at the intersection of Ferguson and Second streets. The units will range from 575 to 1,534 square feet.

Prices will begin in the mid-$200,000 range.

“On purpose, we did not throw in an expensive…

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"750-plus homes headed to Elgin to continue housing boom"

Austin Business Journal shares, "Elgin’s housing boom is set to continue after City Council approved an amendment to a previously approved development agreement that will allow the developer to build more dense housing in an upcoming master planned community.

The original development agreement for Southside Meadows, as the development is called, was approved in May 2023 and would have seen 526 single-family homes built, but that number has swelled to 763 with the amendment approved Sept. 3, according to the meeting agenda. The homes are being planned as developers descend upon Elgin to build thousands of new homes.

Developer Hariharan Kuppuraj owns the 174 acres where the master-planned community will be built along County Line Road, just south…

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