Luxe Austin Homes - new homes

"Triada gets green light for master-planned community near Elgin"

Austin Business Journal shares, "A real estate developer has secured approval to build a 272-acre master-planned community near Elgin called Triada, potentially bringing 875 homes to the area as well as a park and sports complex.

Pflugerville-based Qualico Communities — a subsidiary of Canada's Qualico — on May 7 won approval from the Elgin City Council for a slew of agreements to help with the project north of U.S. Highway 290 and west of County Line Road northeast of Austin.

Representatives of the company said in a May 8 announcement that the development will offer a range of housing options, along with a 6-acre amenity center with a fitness facility, resort-style pool, playscape, shade structure and two pickleball courts. It also will have 55…

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"Another homebuilder joins Gregg Ranch neighborhood in Marble Falls"

Austin Business Journal writes, "In Marble Falls, Gregg Ranch continues to grow.

The 240-acre community at the southern end of Marble Falls was touted in 2020 as the first large-scale development in the city in decades, with around 1,250 homes planned. Pulte Homes and Vogel Builders have built homes in the community, and Arizona-based Gregg Ranch developer Harvard Investments announced April 2 that Colorado-based Richmond American Homes has also signed on to the project.

The Richmond homes at Gregg Ranch will range from 1,687 to 3,000 square feet, with two- to six-bedroom floor plans. Richmond will begin with 62 home sites for its first two phases of construction and is under contract to buy 113 lots in a third phase of construction.

Homes…

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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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"Builders expect home prices, construction to increase in 2024"

Austin Business Journal shares, "Homebuilders around Texas are optimistic that new home prices will ramp up in 2024 and that construction rates will grow as well.

Zonda analyst Bryan Glasshagel presented the company's findings for the final quarter of 2023 at the housing data firm's quarterly event on March 20.

The company surveyed homebuilder division presidents around Texas, 64% of whom expect home prices to increase between 1% to 5% this year. A majority of the respondents are also anticipating increased activity in 2024, with 75% of builders surveyed expecting starts to increase an average 10% this year.

"Consumer confidence is still driving builder activity," Glasshagel told the crowd that was gathered at the Greater San Antonio Builders…

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"PID financing secured for plan to bring 1,400 homes to far East Austin"

Austin Business Journal reports, "Bond financing has been secured for a long-anticipated public improvement district that will support more than 1,400 new homes in far East Austin.

Located on 427 acres east of Del Valle High School between State Highway 71 and Pearce Lane along Kellam Road, the Longview 71 PID is expected to result in 1,461 new homes from homebuilder Taylor Morrison (NYSE: TMHC) in the coming years. During a March 19 meeting, the Travis County Commissioners Court approved a service and assessment plan for the site, in addition to an estimated $10 million bond to support it. The land is not far from Austin-Bergstrom International Airport and Tesla Inc.’s gigafactory.

Christy Moffett, the county’s director of economic development,…

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"Housing Starts Rebound in February by Largest Amount in Nine Months"

Realtor.com reports, "The numbers: Construction of new U.S. homes rebounded 10.7% in February to an annual pace of 1.52 million units, the Commerce Department said Tuesday. That is the biggest gain in nine months. Despite the increase, starts are still below December’s level.

Economists on Wall Street were expecting a 7.4% rise in housing starts in February to 1.43 million. All numbers are seasonally adjusted.

The number of housing starts in January was revised slightly higher, to a drop of 12.3% to 1.37 million, from an initial reading of a 14.8% drop to 1.33 million. It is still the biggest drop since May 2022.

Building permits, a sign of future construction, rose 1.9% in February, also reaching a 1.52 million annual rate. That’s the…

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"Housing Starts Post Sharpest Drop Since April 2020"

Realtor.com reports, "The numbers: Construction of new U.S. homes fell 14.8% in January as home builders scaled back new projects.

The pace of construction slowed as builders curtailed their activity amid wintry weather in the U.S. in January.

Housing starts fell to a 1.33 million annual pace from 1.56 million in December, the government said Friday. That’s how many houses would be built over an entire year if construction took place at the same rate every month as it did in January.

Housing starts fell to the lowest level since August 2023.

The drop in January was the sharpest since April 2020, during the coronavirus pandemic, when starts fell by nearly 27%. Not including that pandemic drop, housing starts fell by the most since 2015.

…

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"New real estate report calls Austin housing market 'optimistic'"

KVUE AUSTIN, Texas writes, — "Real estate experts are calling the housing market in Austin "optimistic."

Unlock MLS released its January market analysis on Wednesday. It shows the median home sales price in the Austin-Round Rock area dropped about 4% to $430,000. At the same time, residential home sales increased by about 4% compared to the year before.

A housing economist for Unlock MLS and the Austin Board of Realtors (ABoR) said although mortgage rates are still elevated, a recent decline is leading to lower home prices and an increase in closed sales.

“January marks the 15th consecutive month of year-over-year median sales price declines in the Austin-Round Rock housing market, empowering more homebuyers to enter our…

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"Developers in Travis County regain public improvement districts but with higher fees"

Austin Business Journal writes, "developers in Travis County have a financial tool back at their disposal that's designed to support large-scale real estate projects, but they may not be supportive of all the changes made to the reworked program.

That's because revisions to public improvement districts, or PIDs, include an increase in community benefit charges tied to certain projects. Previously, developers paid a fee equal to 10% of total investment if their projects didn't include enough affordable housing, but that has been raised to 17.5%. The application fee for a PID has also been increased from $55,000 to $150,000.

Adam Boenig, co-president of Brohn Homes — among the region's most active residential developers — called the higher fees a…

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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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