Grossman & Jones Real Estate Blog - real estate

"The Modern Austin Residences: Condo tower on Rainey Street welcomes new residents this summer"

Austin Business Journal writes, "With Austin’s reputation as a live music capital, perhaps it isn’t surprising that the origin story of The Modern, a 56-story condominium tower hailed as “authentically Austin,” includes a sweet nod to Austin music icons, the Fabulous Thunderbirds. In 2009, still reeling from a recession which had Urbanspace CEO Kevin Burns rethinking the brownstone plans he had for the property he purchased at 90 Rainey Street, he began to envision something with a larger footprint.

While renting his property to a shipping container bar as a stop gap measure, Burns became friends with the property owners next door, Thunderbirds’ drummer Fran Christina and his partner, artist Julie Speed. Over the course of the next five years, with…

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"Surf parks, clear lagoons to surround Austin"

Austin Business Journal writes, "To the north and west, huge Carribbean-like lagoons fit for swimming and paddle boarding. To the south and east, a couple of surf parks.

There are four grand plans to bring big water features to new neighborhoods outside Austin. If they all come to fruition, Austinites can find them in any direction they drive.

The four new neighborhoods — at varying stages of development — have been chronicled in previous ABJ stories.

To the north is Leander Springs, a long-delayed lagoon project that developers said is finally moving forward soon.

Down south, in the tiny suburb of Mustang Ridge, the forthcoming Pura Vida neighborhood promises to deliver surf-worthy waves as the centerpiece for its development.

To the…

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"Legislative wrap up: Texas passes key housing bills"

Austin Business Journal writes, "The most recent Texas legislative session saw a slate of measures passed to make it easier to build more housing across the state. 

Some of the laws that were changed include allowing smaller and ideally more affordable homes to be built, expanding where housing in the state could be built and making it harder for housing developments to be killed in the approval process. 

While the Texas Legislature and its process is known for killing more bills than they pass, the 89th legislative session proved to be a “really strong” one for housing and affordability, said Julia Parenteau, the director of public policy for Texas Realtors. 

“We did anticipate that housing affordability, in particular, was going to be…

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"2 big apartment complexes pegged for North Austin"

Austin Business Journal reports, "Two big multifamily projects are in the works for North Austin.

Developers have filed plans with the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation for two projects that would see almost 800 residences and more than one million square feet of new development built over the next two years. They're planned at a time when the city is grappling with elevated vacancy rates in its multifamily market, but there's a hope that by the time they're delivered, the market will be in a healthier place.

Brockton Residential

The first of the two new North Austin projects is called Brockton Residential. From Atlanta-based Portman Holdings, the project is being planned at 2545 Brockton Drive, according to the TDLR filing.

The…

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"Buyers Are Gaining Market Power as Mortgage Rates Dip Another Week"

Realtor.com writes, "The sour outlook from consumers, and the consistent "wait-and see" policy from the Federal Reserve, helped push interest rates lower, including mortgage rates dipping to 6.77% for a 30-year fixed home loan. The dip was housing-friendly but small, so its impact will be modest.

Inflation, which showed the Fed’s preferred gauge, rose 2.3% in the year even as the index excluding food and energy prices edged a bit higher. Consumer confidence slipped in June, and while consumer sentiment improved, both measures remain at a concerningly sluggish level. 

The April Case-Shiller home price index showed regional divergence, with price gains strongest in Northeast and Midwest markets, like New York City, Chicago, and Detroit. Southern…

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"More international buyers are eyeing the U.S. home market. These cities are getting the most looks."

Austin Business Journal writes, "America's housing market is showing increased interest from international buyers.

That’s according to a new report from Realtor.com, which analyzed international views of for-sale listings on the Realtor.com U.S. marketplace between January and March 2025, as compared to previous quarters.

The data showed the share of home shoppers who came from outside the U.S. grew from 1.3% in the first quarter of 2020 to 1.9% during the same time this year. It was also up from 1.7% in the fourth quarter of 2024.

Cities with the most global interest

In the first quarter of 2025, Miami was the most-popular metro market for international home shoppers, with that metro area capturing 8.7% of demand from outside the U.S.…

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"Household Real Estate Value Falls in the First Quarter of the Year"

Realtor.com writes, "In a slight setback for homeowners, $200 billion was shed from the total value of household real estate during the first months of 2025—but it remained the fourth-highest on record.  

The aggregate market value of all U.S. homes owned by those living in them retreated to $47.9 trillion during the year's first quarter, down from $48.1 trillion at the end of 2024, according to the most recent release of the Federal Reserve Z.1 Financial Accounts.

This reflects a continued pullback from the highest total of $48.8 trillion, recorded in the second quarter of 2024, according to a recent Flow of Funds analysis by Realtor.com® economists. Yet despite the downturn that has occurred across three consecutive quarters, homes gained $960…

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"Austin and Round Rock rank among fastest-growing affordable U.S. cities"

CultureMap Austin shares, "A new national study has declared Texas home to the most affordable, fast-growing cities in the country, and Austin and Round Rock both made the list.

Round Rock ranked 10th while Austin ranked 35th on GoBankingRates.com's new list of "50 Most Affordable, Fastest-Growing Cities in 2025."

The Dallas suburb Frisco tops the national rankings at No. 1, and four more North Texas cities appear on the top 10: McKinney (No. 2), Allen (No. 5), and Lewisville (No. 8); and the Houston-area suburb League City (No. 7).

The personal finance website's experts narrowed the study down to U.S. cities of at least 100,000 people, with one-year and five-year population growth rates that were higher than the national average, and with…

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"Multiple new multifamily projects on tap, from The Domain to South Congress"

While deliveries of multifamily projects in the Austin area have been forecast to decline in the coming years, some are still being planned.

From The Domain to South Congress Avenue, developers have projects on tap ranging from townhome complexes to mid-rise apartment buildings, according to three site plan applications filed with the city. They're in the works at a time when uncertainty swirls around the metro's multifamily market and a number of other projects have been canceled or delayed.

Multifamily vacancy came in at 15.5% in April, according to ApartmentData.com, an elevated level that's a concern for developers and property managers because high vacancy rates lead to lower rental rates and less new development as investors hesitate to…

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"Is Now a Good Time to Buy a House?"

Key takeaways:

• If you have the means, now may be a good time to buy a house.
• There are nearly 500,000 more home sellers than buyers, putting buyers in charge – but a shaky economy has everyone on edge.
• Mortgage rates remain elevated and volatile thanks to inflation concerns, tariff uncertainty, and market volatility.
• Housing costs continue rising: The median U.S. home sale price sits at a near-record high $438,000, marking 22 straight months of year-over-year gains.

Spring is in full swing, kicking off the prime homebuying season. So, many homebuyers are wondering if it’s a good time to enter the housing market. 

Housing remains largely unaffordable for most of the country, after all, and economic uncertainty is significantly…

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