Dive Brief:
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Developer Blakefield LLC’s proposal for a 2,200-acre master planned community northwest of Austin, TX, got the green light from the Travis County Commissioners Court this week, according to KVUE.
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Thomas Ranch will contain 3,300 homes upon completion, with the range of typologies including custom offerings as well as cottages. Apartments, retail, a hotel and entertainment spaces are also planned for the MPC.
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In addition to the built amenities, the community will also have access to the Pedernales River and Lake Travis, as well as trails for running and hiking. The community will participate in the National Fire Protection Association’s FireWise resident education program.
Dive Insight:
Texas leads the way for MPCs as a solid job market and low cost of living there attract new residents to the state’s metros. The state accounted for 38% of the MPC market in 2016, the most of all U.S. states, up from 10% in the 1990s, according to a recent report from real estate consultancy RCLCO.
The housing market in Central Texas is no exception from that statewide growth.
Personal finance website NerdWallet recently named Austin as the best city in the U.S. for wages and general affordability. Meanwhile, real estate social networking website BiggerPockets called out the state's capital city, along with Dallas, Houston and seven other U.S. cities, as markets where investors can yield the greatest return on residential real estate.
Demand isn’t relegated to city centers, however, with suburban markets also seeing growth. A recent ranking of the top low-density urban and suburban zip codes by Realtor.com put Austin’s Daffan–Hornsby Bend sub-market in the top five along with Wylie–St. Paul, near Dallas.
Houston is another Texas market seeing a number of new or considerably expanded MPCs in recent months. Empire Communities, the homebuilding arm of Canadian developer Empire, recently started work on its Woodforest MPC north of the city, according to the Houston Business Journal.
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