The continuing development at the old Mueller airport in Austin has seen fast paced sales in 2009, and the developer Catellus is remaining tight lipped about plans for 2010.
New home sales in 2009 have been brisk to say the least, and I’m grateful for all the business. At a recent development budget meeting, the number of residential homeowner assessments was announced as 671.
Compare that with the number of occupied units at the end of 2008 (around 350) and assuming 20 unsold units, that means that around 300 new homes have sold in 2009. Mueller is certainly Austin’s fastest selling development.
Another example is a success in a tricky price point. The 2009 Parade of Homes showcased five million dollar five star green homes. This is a slow selling price right now – the absorption rate of homes in the $900k-$2m range within Austin is very low – there are over 15 months of inventory right now. Nevertheless, one of the five in Mueller has sold this year – congratulations to The Muskin Company and Kevin Burns.
During 2009, most of the remaining builder lots have been sold and much of the construction completed. Visiting the model homes right now shows that there are only a handful for each builder available. I ran into Bob Brock at Streetman Homes a few days ago and he has only three townhomes available and three other lots to build on (and the Parade home).
There are some new homes still available at Mueller, but not many.
So what’s in store for 2010 at Mueller? The developer’s original plans have certainly changed. While we had anticipated an announcement from Catellus on the next phase by the end of this year, it looks like this has been pushed back until 2010. So when will we see new homes under construction at the old airport? It’s unclear at this stage.
I’ll talk about what this means for the resale market in Mueller in my next post.
Garreth Wilcock is a Realtor ® specializing in new and resale homes at Mueller. Get in touch at 512 215 478, or leave a question in the comments below!