The Austin Future YOU Won't Like....

Austin is changing dramatically. We've done several videos on the changes coming to the Austin area. So today I want to go through and actually go show you some of the changes that we're going to be seeing from good, bad, the ugly. Some of these you're actually not going to maybe like. You're going to have to tell me in the comment section on each one of these. So let's get straight into this. Jeremy Knight with the Knight Group, your favorite Austin Realtor. Let's talk about one of the big changes coming to East Austin. River Park, which is going to be in East Austin, is a 109-acre mixed-use development on Riverside Drive. It's set to transform the landscape of the area over the next 10 to 20 years. But what makes it truly stand out is the 65,000-square-foot live music and events venue planned for the first phase. This venue is a game-changer for Austin, designed as a hybrid between the iconic Austin Music Hall and ACL Live Moody Theater. With world-class acoustics and flexible seating, it's set to become a cultural hub for the city. Austin's music scene is legendary, obviously, and this is a new space which will play a huge role in maintaining that reputation. But beyond the entertainment value, let's look at what they're actually doing on the east side with this project. River Park will feature office spaces, retail, and over a thousand multifamily units. It's designed to be a place where people can live, work, and play. While the project is still in the early stages, it represents the future of urban development in Austin, a blend of residential, commercial, and cultural spaces. With projects like this, it's no wonder that Austin is seeing explosive growth. Now, you may be thinking, but Jeremy, it is hard to get around the Austin area, and you would be correct, but it's even harder to get into the Austin area. So let's talk about one of the changes that's going to be happening with the airport very soon. ABIA is about to go through a massive transformation. Austin City Council recently approved $1.9 billion in contracts to expand the airport, and this is just the beginning. Austin's airport could look entirely different with a new concourse, arrivals, and departure hall, and up to 30 additional gates. Hensel Philips is going to be working on the concourse of this project, and that's going to be a $1.03 billion project. This expansion is critical as ABIA is handling more than double the passengers than it initially was built for. In 2023, it saw 22 million passengers, and in 2024, it was going to see even more. Now, look, the airport can really only handle about 11 million passengers a year, and so we are well over that right now. But this isn't just about accommodating more travelers. The expansion is a $4 billion investment that aims to boost the local economy, improve travel, and create a world-class experience for more flying in and out of the Austin area. And you're thinking to yourself, Jeremy, that's a lot of money to be spending on the airport, and I would agree. I do want to hear from you. Does Austin really need to continue the with the airport and some of the infrastructure packages that we've seen? Now, you recently saw that they approved, I think it was like $27 or $25 billion worth of infrastructure in and around the Austin area, so I'm curious of your thoughts on that. But let's talk about the expansion of Austin. Is Austin actually getting more affordable? Well, a new article out says this. Let's talk about the broader housing market and what it means for homebuyers across the country, and that includes the Austin area as well. According to recent data from Redfin, the American now needs to earn $115,000 a year to afford a median-priced home. The good news is that's slightly down from last year, but it is still full higher than the typical housing income, which sits around $83,000. This means many families are still priced out of home ownership. Even the mortgage interest rates falling still prices them out. What's crazy about the Austin area is the median income for Austin is much higher than the US. It's actually $91,000 in the Austin area, so that is higher, yet the median home for prices, as we've seen on this channel, are getting more expensive. Affordability is becoming a bigger challenge, and while lower interest rates might provide some relief, prices are expected to keep climbing, erasing much of that benefit. Austin remains one of the hottest markets, with rising demands putting continued pressure on prices, but with projects like Affordable Preakness Apartments and new development in Leander, we're seeing efforts to balance the housing shortage. So the question is, do we get better in Austin by getting more affordability by more multifamily and more rentals, or do we do it by getting more homes on the market? Now, the red tape in the Austin area has been a really big challenge to get homes on the market and to get them to the ability to sell. This is something we've talked about on the channel, and I know a lot of people think the prices are coming down in Austin. Based on what we've seen recently, they have come down, yet will they keep going down now that rates are down? That's a question you're going to have to answer in the comments below. But let's talk about this multifamily situation. All right, and this might be the most offensive part of this, though, because we're talking about affordability and are things getting affordable, and we're talking about multifamily, yet there's a new development, and you tell me in the comments section if you're offended by this, but there is a new build-to-rent community hitting Leander. One of the fastest growing areas around the Austin metro is Leander, and a new build-to-rent neighborhood, Tricon, is adding 155 single-family homes to meet the increasing demand of rental housing. The development is part of the 530-acre Bryson community and has tapped into a huge need in the region. Leander's population is exploding, obviously, as more people are moving outside of Austin, but this build-to-rent facility is actually by one of the companies that everybody hates, and that's Blackstone. So what we're seeing in the Austin market is more build-to-rent neighborhoods. I'm curious what your thoughts are on Blackstone creating this development in Leander. Do you think that we should build more build-to-own versus build-to-rent? It's a question for you. And while we're talking about multifamily, yes, there are more apartments being built. There's another project coming in southeast Austin, and it's aimed at addressing the affordable housing issue. The Preakness Apartments in east Austin are going to bring 341 units to the area, with half of them designated as affordable housing. This project is a partnership between NRP Group and the Housing Affordability of Travis County, and it's part of the broader effort to provide workforce housing in a rapidly growing part of the city. So look, you're thinking to me, all right, the airport's getting bigger. We're starting to see more multifamily. What about jobs? Also, what are you thinking so far throughout this? Let's talk about jobs real quick. Now, the job market actually remains surprisingly resilient with recent economic shifts. Even though job openings have fallen from pre-pandemic era, data suggests that the market is stabilizing, and it's important for Austin, one of the fastest growing cities in the U.S. According to recent reports by Redfin and Indeed, wage growth has started to pick back up with high wage sectors like software development seeing 3.3% year-over-year increase in wages. This trend is key in Austin, where the tech industry plays a massive role in driving local economy. Job openings for software engineers are up 12% from last year, signaling that companies are once again ramping up hiring after a slow 2023. But it's not just the tech sector benefiting this stabilization. The overall job market in Austin continues to show signs of strength, even as the Federal Reserve rates have been cut to keep the economy in balance. While unemployment rates have ticked up slightly, Austin's job market remains competitive. A recent report found that four of the top 10 most competitive job markets in the U.S. are right here in Texas and in Austin. So some of the things that we're seeing on top of job growth is where are people moving to, right? We talked about Leandrid, the build to rent, but there is still some areas that are growing. Williamson County and out in Hutto, we're seeing more developments. Let's talk about two that are on the list. Homebuilders are increasingly shifting their focus in the areas outside of Austin with reports emerging in fast growing suburbs like Hutto and Taylor and other parts of Williamson County. Meadowbrook project located on 80 acres in Hutto, this development will bring 325 to 370 single family homes. It's set to begin construction in late 2025 and early 2026, with homes expected to be a mix of attached and detached styles. Hutto's rapid population growth more than doubled in the last decade is partly driven by industrial developments like Samsung conductors and Tesla. And with the growth of Taylor, Meadowbrook is set to meet a growing demand of suburban housing in this expected area. Urbana-Lemur project is another project. This 16 acre development will feature 225 for lease single family homes and duplexes catering to renters. This project on tap for the rental market is rapidly growing expansion with Hutto's popular surge demand for both rentals and ownership opportunities is crucial to support the local growth. So these are just a couple of the developments that are on tap for 2025 and 2026. You tell me in the comments section, do we need more rentals? Do we need more homes for sale? And what do you think about the growth of Austin? If you like videos like this, make sure you drop a comment and tell me that you like these or you want something different. I'm open ears and you know what? Look, we'll see in the next video.