The Austin area has seen significant land sales recently. Taylor Morrison bought around 1200 home sites in Crystal Falls, a development northwest of Austin in the suburb of Leander. Taylor Morrison is getting close to having its lots in master-planned community Steiner Ranch build out and needed another community to move in to.
A subdivision called Headwaters at Barton Creek in Dripping Springs sold not long ago as well. Headwaters is next to Sunset Canyon around 20 minutes west of downtown Austin. Headwaters will have around 1000 homes and quite a bit of green space.
The most recent sale was Sweetwater, a development just west of Bee Cave across from Bee Creek Road out Highway 71. Sweetwater was originally planned for around 1000 homes and parts of the infrastructure is already in. The developer lost the property to bankruptcy and Wheelock Street Capital LLC, a real estate investment group out of Greenwich, CT and Boston, MA. This group is said to have very deep pockets.
With these large land acquisitions having happened, there isn’t much left that can be developed quickly in the area west of Austin. The Peacock Ranch, which sits next to Sweetwater is available, but it still needs entitlements, access from Hwy 71, which does not exist at this time, and an extension of an LCRA water pipe 3 miles down Hamilton Pool Road. The RGK Ranch, which also sits by Sweetwater off Hwy 71 may or may not be available.
More developable land is in the Dripping Springs area, north of Austin, between Pflugerville and Manor and southeast of Austin. However, these are areas of gently rolling farm and ranch land. The really attractive land is west in the Hill Country and there isn’t much available.
What this means is that as Austin continues to recover and adds jobs, there will most likely be a lot shortage in 2011 and 2012. Combine this with builders having cut back tremendously on new homes, there could be a shortage of new homes. This could lead to increased prices for new homes because of demand and also a higher price for resale homes as many buyers may choose to go in that direction rather than waiting for a new home to be built.
Sam Chapman is an