You can see this most clearly in neighborhoods like Maple Run, Legend Oaks, Circle C, and Village at Western Oaks. Renovated homes in desirable school paths are still commanding strong premiums. One of the wildest examples was a remodeled home in Bannockburn that closed at over $520 per square foot, which absolutely crushed the average price per square foot for the zip code. On the other end of the spectrum, there were multiple homes in the low $200 per square foot range that either needed updating, backed to less desirable locations, or simply missed the mark for today’s buyers. The spread between updated and outdated homes continues to widen.

The highest sale so far this year was in the J.W. Smith section of Western Oaks at $1.14M on Rolling Meadow Road. That sale reinforces something we continue to see over and over in Southwest Austin: larger lots, mature trees, and updated homes in established neighborhoods still carry major value. Meanwhile, some of the longer days on market came from homes that either started overpriced or required buyers to make too many compromises. There were several homes that sat 150 to 280 days before selling, which is a huge contrast compared to the homes that sold in under a week.