The market for high-end homes has been one of the fastest growing segements in the Austin market.

When you look at actual sales over the last few years, exceptional high-end homes near the water, in Westlake, or downtown now sell for as much as $500 / SF or more. No matter how nice a smaller house is in a prime neighborhood, it's rare to see houses under 4,000SF sell for more than $300SF. The average for the Austin area is well under $150SF. So, the key is that the luxury market is a distinct market of large houses in select locations, on prime lots, with very high-end finishes. In December 2006, 28 houses and condos in Austin sold for more than $1 million. In the scheme of things, this is not a very large market.

While inventory in the prime areas of the city that have very high-end homes (central and west of downtown) has remained flat—supply is limited— the number of homes sold for more than $1 million has ballooned by 59% in these key areas (based on August to January sales, year-over-year).

Home Sales > $1 Million
Austin 1 Year
MLS Area Sales Growth
1B 34%
8E 24%
8W 54%
LS 74%
W 60%
RN 119%
Key Areas: 59%

Austin % of 2006
MLS Area Sales > $1M
1B 6.6%
8E 16.7%
8W 12.2%
LS 5.8%
W 8.7%
RN 8.0%
Key Areas: 8.4%

Here is a map of the Austin MLS area's referenced here:



While the market for luxury housing is rapidly expanding, the market for super-high-end downtown condos remain very small. A very large number of units is currently being planned. It will be interesting to see how well these expensive units sell. While demand for inexpensive units is very strong, the upper end of the downtown condo market remaind unproven.

Tags: market analysis, mls statistics, news