Highland Lakes real estate not affected by Austin-area slump

By Emily Hilley-Sierzchula

Unlike its looming neighbor Austin, the Highland Lakes region real estate market is going strong, according to several local realtors.

After years of home price and inventory increases, the Austin real estate market saw a three percent decrease in home sales in July, along with a rise in inventory, according to the Austin Board of Realtors on Aug. 21.

Not true here, said Chad Calhoun, broker and owner of Jim Berry Hill Country Ranch Sales, this past Friday, Aug. 29.

“We’ve had no such dip in real estate values here, but we didn’t have the meteoric rise in prices like Austin did,” he said. “What goes up must come down,” he said.

Calhoun said he does not consider a three percent drop a major trend; rather, he called it a “correction” in the market.

Using a long-term perspective, home values in the Highland Lakes region have been climbing in value since 2011, and that the market has grown considerably, Calhoun said. “I see it continuing to get better, not withstanding some major disruption in the market,” he said.

Patricia Gillean, president of the Highland Lakes Association of REALTORS board of directors, agreed that the market in the region is different than Austin’s.

From January to the end of August, sales surpassed the same period last year: $265 million this year compared to $240 million last year, which is a “6.7 percent increase in the number of units sold and a 9.4 percent increase in the value of homes sold,” she reported. 

For the full story, see Tuesday's Highlander.