Austin is being redefined as a market for homes for the ultra-rich, according to a new report. The $10M+ National Luxury Report for 2022 from real estate brokerage Compass cites five local sales of homes over $10 million in 2022; that's only up one from the previous year, but there had been none in the years shown before that.
The report is for all sales in the area and based on MLS data.
Affluent areas in Austin have landed increasingly in wealth reports, like the richest cities in Texas as the benchmark for the 1 percent of highest earners in Texas rises. The Compass report acknowledges that the wealth of Austin transplants has permanently changed the real estate market.
DFW holds the top spot in Texas for the $10 million-plus category of home sales, with $145.79 million in sales volume (counting 11 houses over the $10 million mark). Austin totaled $55.95 million, and in Houston, just one home in this category sold last year.
So, how much did those uber-expensive homes go for? In Austin, it was just $11.99 million for buyer-represented sales, and $7.75 million for listing-represented sales. In Dallas-Fort Worth, the top market, it was $20 million and $14.65 million, respectively. The average price of a sale in this category was $11.19 million in Austin and $13.25 million in Dallas-Fort Worth.
"2022 continued to be a banner year for the high-end luxury market inAustin with most transactions occurring off-market," quoted the report of local real estate agent Dara Allen. "Austin remains a high-demand destination for those who seek both more space and more favorable tax situations, with buyers coming from California, NY, Canada, Chicago, Boston, Georgia and even Europe. ... I believe that Austin will continue to be a destination of choice for many luxury buyers in the years to come.”
For a nationwide comparison, the top selling price was $56 million in Manhattan, $44.5 million in Greater Los Angeles, and $48.5 million in Palm Beach County, Florida. The over-$10-million-homes number looks poised to rise in Austin as one community in Westlake plans for a development with homes starting at $12.5 million to be completed in 2024. Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston, and Austin were the only areas included from Texas, and DFW easily bests its neighbors down south. This is one contest Austinites may want to keep losing.
