Quote:
Originally Posted by bossabreezes
Austin's growth is crazy. Although we're primarily urban focused on this site, what are the Austin suburbs doing lately? Still growing fast? I'm trying to imagine Austin in 10 years- are we looking at a larger metropolitan area with similar growth patterns to all other Texas cities (Houston, Dallas) or will Austin stay more compact than that former two?
|
I agree. Growth in Austin is crazy! My cousins their talk about it all the time.
Some 200+ people a day are moving to the metro area. I believe - as of last month - there was only 12 days of housing inventory available (the fewest of any major metro in the country). A large number of sales are not even hitting the "market." Developers cannot build fast enough.
As for Austin's future - I hope it grows to be more dense than Dallas or Houston. Just based on the last 10 years of growth - Austin's metro could have 3.1 million by 2030 (5+ million by 2045). I would hope that a good chunk of those will live near the center and not in the periphery.
With rail coming and more "walkable" core neighborhoods, Austin could get a better handle on traffic. It's not going to disappear. But, allowing citizens to live closer to work and play areas, it could remove them from a long commute - clogging the freeways. Additionally, with more housing options near the center, it could have a positive affect on pricing. Even though those homes will still be pricey, having more options could slow down some of the price growth. In some cases, offers are coming in at $100k-$250k over asking price on $500k-$750k homes. Recently, a family purchased a home near Riverplace for $28 million. Ten days after they closed, they received an unsolicited offer for 10% more than they paid (they turned it down). Another home sold about a month ago in West Lake Hills (on Lake Austin) for $39 million. And those two examples are for properties of less than 9 acres! Just crazy.
Edit: An additional property - Medway Ranch (~67 acres) - sold early last year for ~$30 million (on Lake Austin off of Pecan Road)...