Area housing inventory continues to fall
By most accounts, Austin is still booming. As more big companies attract more workers to the city, though, the amount of housing needed to accommodate them—especially those who are looking to purchase a residence—continues to fall short. While February's weather and power outages caused residential sales in the Austin-Round Rock Metropolitan Statistical Area to drop 8 percent, according to an Austin Board of Realtors report, available housing for sale fell to a record low of 0.4 months of inventory, while the median sales price rose 22.5%, to an all-time high of $395,000. (Austin Board of Realtors)
CrowdStreet real-estate investment company moves headquarters to Austin
It doesn't necessarily portend new commercial development (yet), but Portland-based real-estate investment firm CrowdStreet will soon join the many companies relocating its headquarters to Austin. The company connects investors to commercial, multifamily and office development projects; a local example is the 283-unit Presidium Waterford apartment complex coming to the Domain area. (Austin Business Journal)
East Sixth micro-apartments get bigger
Or taller, anyway. Sixth and Chicon, a residential project planned for the former location of a small hair-styling business1812 East Sixth Street, resurfaced on the market recently, sporting a new plan that includes an additional floor and 20 additional "microunit" apartments. Designed by Mark Odom Studio, the planned 34,375-square-foot building will now have six stories, with studio and one-bedroom apartments measuring an average of 450 square feet. The structure will rise next to two-story bar Whisler's, a former neighborhood watering hole transformed in the mid-aughts into a cocktail destination with few changes to its look or structure. The project is being developed by Nathan Vargo. (James Rambin, Austin Towers)
