Austin’s median housing prices have also grown far faster in net total than the others, increasing by $80,000 since 2011. Why the difference? The reasons vary, but boil down to Austin’s relative unwillingness–thanks to NIMBYism and regulations–to build more housing.
This NIMBYism manifests itself via the Austin Neighborhood Council, a collection of neighborhood associations. It is particularly strong among homeowners on the northwest side, which contains some of Austin’s richest zip codes.
Chuck DeVore, who is vice president of the Austin-area Texas Public Policy Foundation and a fellow Forbes contributor, says this NIMBYism has–in one of the great ironies of modern urban affairs–arisen because of the city’s liberal politics.
Austin’s government reminds him of California
“Of all major Texas cities, Austin comes the closest to imitating California’s regulatory stranglehold on housing development," he wrote by email. "This results in government-induced artificial scarcity in the housing market which drives up prices as builders can’t meet demand.”
Current annual appreciation is 8%, yield 6%, total 14% can’t compete with current SV’s 20% annual capital appreciation + 2% rental yield. Before this boom, Austin used to have 2% appreciation, 12% yield.
Tons of apartments in Austin downtown and The Domain. Hardly any in suburbs. I don’t recommend buying condos in downtown, no condos for sale in The Domain. You need to check whether Austin means downtown or Austin address or Austin MSA. For rental, better to buy in suburbs.
I visited RR some years ago, not looking to buy anything at the moment. It’s in the radar to prepare for any disasterous rent control policies from the lunatics.
Need to build a list of cities when need to exchange properties in a hurry. Never hurt to plan for long term
