Found 625 blog entries tagged as real estate.

After a two-year boom, the United States housing market finds itself at a pivotal moment — but pivoting to what, exactly?

This spring should have been a busy time for home sellers. Instead, the season was a dud, stalled by a dramatic spike in mortgage rates that stunned even industry experts with its chilling effect on the market.

The frenzied environment we had become accustomed to — with its eye-popping price increases and bidding wars that left buyers dejected and sellers giddy — suddenly seemed to be a thing of the past. While buyers stood on the sidelines, recalculating their much larger mortgage payments, sellers began to realize that offers of $100,000 or more over asking might not be forthcoming.

And over in the rental market,…

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A “boutique” development featuring nearly 80 homes will soon get underway in South Austin.

Houston-based David Weekley Homes will offer 79 single-family homes at the Village on Cooper Lane, near South First Street and West Dittmar Road. Prices start in the $600,000s, which is in line with the median home price in the city.

“We’re excited about this new central Austin project, as we know that new home supply in this location is scarce,” Dave Mire, division president in Austin for David Weekley, says in a news release. “This boutique community will be very charming. We will be introducing exciting new product, and we look forward to the response from our homebuyers.”

Each two- or three-story home will measure 1,680 to 2,625 square feet.…

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Austin home buyers and sellers are getting creative to lessen the blow of rising interest rates. Realtors report more people are exploring temporary interest rate buydowns.

The temporary rate buydowns happening right now involve sellers taking some of their profit from the sale and putting it toward helping the buyer make payments at a lower interest rate. It's usually a benefit that sellers only agree to for a couple of years, but it is helping homes sell while rates are high.

For the first time in years the Austin Board of Realtors says the area housing market is stabilizing—something that will help some buyers get back in the game.

"They can be a little bit more relaxed. They can actually have a shot at making one of their offers stick.…

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  • Austin, Phoenix and Raleigh housing markets have gained inventory.
  • Among major metros, they led the nation for inventory growth.
  • Active listings in the Austin area grew by 144% over the past year.
  • These real estate markets are also seeing more price reductions.
  • It’s evidence that these hot housing scenes are cooling in 2022.

Inventory shortage. That two-word phrase has appeared in countless real estate market reports over the past couple of years. In most cities across the country, a shortage of supply relative to demand has frustrated home buyers and boosted house prices like never before.

But now for the good news. We are starting to see some housing market inventory growth in major cities across the country. This trend is…

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Mortgage rates have risen faster this year than they have in decades.

The average 30-year fixed-rate mortgage has been hovering above 5% for more than a month, taking a toll on prospective homebuyers. While many hopeful buyers have bowed out of the market for now, some are exploring what once seemed like an unlikely option: adjustable rate mortgages, or ARMs. The cost of financing a home has risen so much, so fast that many buyers can't afford to buy a home with a traditional fixed-rate mortgage. The typical monthly payment on an average priced home with a 30-year fixed rate loan and 20% down is more than $600 higher now than at the start of this year -- a 44% increase on principal and interest payments, according to Black Knight, a…

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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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Rising mortgage rates due to the rate hikes implemented by the Federal Reserve have put the squeeze on home affordability for many American homebuyers, not to mention raising fears of an impending recession. The housing market in the United States really took off in the pandemic’s second year (2021), with high demand and homes flying off the shelves, leading to diminishing inventories and surges in home prices. With the recent increases in mortgage rates, many housing markets have showed reduced activity. Still, there are many housing markets that have continued to thrive.

Using monthly housing data from Redfin, we analyzed the 200 largest cities in the U.S. by population and determined which housing markets have experienced the biggest growth in…

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For the past two years, anyone who had a home to sell could get practically any asking price. Good shape or bad, in cities and in exurbs, seemingly everything on the market had a line of eager buyers.

Now, in the span of a few weeks, real estate agents have gone from managing bidding wars to watching properties sit without offers, and once-hot markets like Austin, Texas, and Boise, Idaho, are poised for big declines.

The culprit is rising mortgage rates, which have spiked to their highest levels since the 2008 housing crisis in response to the Federal Reserve’s recent efforts to tame inflation. The jump in borrowing costs, adding hundreds of dollars a month to the typical mortgage payment and coming on top of two years of home price…

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One of the country’s hottest ZIP codes for homebuyers is in one of the country’s hottest cities.

A new ranking from real estate platform Opendoor puts the 78641 ZIP code in Leander at No. 6 among the country’s 20 hottest ZIP codes for homebuyers.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Leander ranked second for population growth from July 2020 to July 2021 in cities with at least 50,000 residents. The Austin suburb saw its population grow by 10.1 percent during the one-year period, winding up at 67,124. 

Opendoor identified the top ZIP codes by analyzing data from local Multiple Listing Service programs where Opendoor operates. The ZIP codes were ranked by the total number of homes that went under contract within 90 days of listing in 2022.

…

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Situated in the southeast outskirts of Austin and with a population of less than 10,000, Bastrop provides a charming small-town feel without being too far removed from the city.

It has tons of appeal, and here are five of the top reasons you'll want to become a Bastrop resident:

Loads of outdoor fun
Bastrop sits on the banks of the Colorado River, making it the perfect spot to bird watch, kayak, camp, and even golf or zipline.

You can relax on the El Camino Real Paddling Trail and fish for Guadalupe bass and flathead catfish. Keep your eyes peeled for local wildlife sightings such as great blue herons, red-shouldered hawks, or kingfishers.

Bastrop State Park is comprised of 600 lush acres and is home to the famous lost pines. These trees…

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