downtown Austin's neighborhood and real estate blog
Just in time for SXSW, Caffe Medici opens its third location. Located in the Austonian on Congress Ave, I was immediately impressed with the finish out. Great layout, great light, great coffee. We’ll soon need to update our Best Coffee Shops In Austin list. A couple of quick android pics after the jump. [Read more...]
Judging by the average numbers, November was a rough month for resales of downtown Austin condos. Conversely, luxury condos continue to post strong numbers for the second month in a row. Back in October, I was surprised by the large number of closings we observed in the downtown Austin’s top-tier condo buildings. The ABJ followed up with a story saying “Verdict’s in: Austin condos did work.”
Top-tier (new buildings)
While the high-end market continues to show good numbers, it’s not clear to me how many of these closings are from original reservations, rather than new purchase contracts (within the past 120 days).
-Four Seasons shows 49 closed units, six closed in November.
-Austonian shows 32 closed units, two closed in November.
-Spring shows ~165-170 closed units closed, nine closed in November. It should be noted that these were, in fact, all new contracts.
Resales
Using data available on Nov 30th, 11 downtown austin condos closed at an average $252 per square foot. That’s the lowest average price since August of 2009, and is 19.5% lower than the average resale price compared to November of last year. Compared to downtown condo sales in October, prices were down 14%. Also interesting, average days-on-market (DOM) was 118 days – not surprising to see closing prices averaging 12% less than original asking prices.
| Address | Building | Bedrooms | Square Feet | Sold Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1800 Lavaca St #608 | Greenwood Towers | 2 | 857 | Call |
| 507 Sabine St #305 | The Sabine | 2 | 1462 | Call |
| 505 W 7th St #318 | Posada del Rey | 2 | 1049 | Call |
| 901 W 9th St #311 | The Nokonah | 1 | 849 | Call |
| 360 Nueces St #1001 | 360 Condos | 1 | 801 | Call |
| 555 E 5th St #923 | 5 Fifty Five (555) | 1 | 1195 | Call |
| 1705 Pearl St | 3 | 1879 | Call | |
| 1801 Lavaca St #14M | Cambridge Towers | 2 | 912 | Call |
| 411 Brazos St #224 | Brazos Lofts | 1 | 1313 | Call |
| 800 W 5th St #505 | Austin City Lofts | 2 | 1482 | Call |
| 80 Red River St #307 | Villas on Town Lake | 1 | 675 | Call |
Jude @ the Austonian (55th floor, southeast corner)
After several weeks of the weather foiling our plans, myself and KevinFromTexas at SkyscraperPage, were escorted to the 55th floor of the Austonian where we could take photos of the building’s city views (they kindly asked us to not take photos of the interiors until they were complete). As has been common this season, a storm started rolling in as we were setting up, and the wind was a little too intense for this photographer’s novice hand to get the tripod to support itself. I think we came through with some interesting perspectives. If you’re interested in more photos of the Austonian, make sure to checkout SkyscraperPage’s Austonian Thread and Flickr. Thanks to Cile, Sarah, and Trey at the Austonian for facilitating the tour!
You can see the 55th floor terraces here – this amazing photo is taken from the crane positioned high above the top of the building!
-Jude
Dig these pics of the Austonian? Share the love, we appreciate it! 
Open houses in downtown Austin for Sunday, December 13th
The great thing about downtown Austin open houses is that you can generally walk from building to building. If you’re into adaptive reuses of older buildings, checkout DAB’s list of downtown Austin lofts. Looking for downtown Austin FHA approved condos? We’ve got the info.
This weekend you can browse at your own pace at the Austin City Lofts, Milago (btw, have you visited Rainey Street recently?), Spring, and the Austonian sales center. While you’re here, checkout DAB’s gift suggestions found on 2nd Street.
Sunday
1) 54 Rainey St Penthouse #2, 2bd, 2.5ba, $995,000, 1-3pm [Urbanspace] map
2) 800 W 5th St, #201, 2bd, 2ba, $649,900, 1-3pm [Urbanspace] map
3) 300 Bowie St, Spring sales center, model units, 1-5pm map website
4) 200 Congress Ave, Austonian sales center located at 300 W 6th, 12-5pm map website
Don’t see the properties you’re interested in? Ask a Realtor who lives and works in downtown Austin.
Downtown Austin Blog was provided with early access to the still-under-construction Austonian in order to snap a few photos of the luxury building’s interior finishes. The unit you are looking at above is the northeastern corner, “D” floor plan, on the 11th floor. This will become a staged model unit within the next few weeks. Beginning at the unit’s front door – made from Italian walnut – the standard finish packages are the highest quality we’ve seen in a downtown Austin residential tower, thus far.
We were impressed with the kitchen features: Scavolini cabinets, white carrera marble counters and back splash, built in Sub Zero refrigerator, Wolf gas-range, Miele coffee maker, Dornbracht fixtures. American walnut floors through out. All units outfitted with solar shades. From the 11th floor you have a clear view of the Capitol.
Link to DAB’s coverage of the Austonian
Yesterday, the marketing team at the Austonian invited us to tour the building. This was my third time [near] to the top, and this time I remembered my camera! The 54th floor is the top residential floor. Floors 55 & 56 will be common area for the building. I dragged Amber along. She’s a trooper. Construction elevators to the highest floor in the tallest residential tower west of the Mississippi are fun. 
Where: The Austonian
When: Tuesday, December 9th 5-8pm
What: The Austonian would like you to join them to celebrate – 28 of 56 stories are complete! [info pdf]
The Austonian
Contact Jude Galligan, REALTOR, Broker and publisher of Downtown Austin Blog (aka. "DAB"), spends his time matching remarkable people with remarkable properties in Austin’s urban core.
A long time downtown Austin resident and business owner, Jude serves on the Board of the Downtown Austin Alliance (DAA) and the City of Austin Downtown Commission.
 Jude Galligan |  amber gugino |  Fred Schmidt |  @JacobDirr |
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