Have Lakefront Home Values Gone Up?

Austin Texas Real Estate Podcast With Shawn Culhane

Have lake property values gone up now that Lake Travis is back to full pool? We’ll break down the numbers today.

Thank you for sending us your questions. Today, we’ll answer Rebecca, who asked, “Have lake property values accelerated now that Lake Travis is full?”

Lake Travis dropped to its lowest point in 2011 thanks to the drought. In May of 2015, the rains came, and the lake went back to full pool in about a month.

Home values did slide in 2011, when the lake was at its lowest point. Then, home values proceeded to bottom out in 2014. That year, the median price for a Lake Travis waterfront property was $565,000. In 2015, the rains came and the median price rose to $675,000. At the end of 2016, home values made a full recovery with a median price of $774,000.

The water levels in Lake Travis also impacted the number of home sales. In 2014, Lake Travis only had 63 closed transactions. That number went up to 93 home sales in 2015, and in 2016, 157 lakefront properties sold.

So, lakefront properties are now back to pre-drought values. However, just because Lake Travis has seen an increase in home values doesn’t mean that your home has seen the same rate of appreciation.

Lakefront home values have made a full recovery.

Home values vary from property to property and from area to area. The Austin area Board of Realtors says that from November 2015 to November 2016, home values in Austin grew by 7%. If you break that down, though, you’ll see that Williamson County appreciated by 12%, Travis County appreciated by 1%, and Hays County appreciated by 8%.
If you have any other questions you would like us to answer or if you want to know what your home is worth in today’s market, just give me a call or send me an email. I would be happy to help you!