American cities continue to build luxury condos 

Emilyb throws open the shades of the three-bedroom penthouse. “This is amazing,” she says, walking past the wine fridge and wet-dry bar, according to a report by Bloomberg.

“Look at that fireplace.” Ms. Young, a real estate agent with a Marc Jacobs handbag on her hip, is giving a tour of one of the most luxurious apartment buildings in Austin.

At the Hanover Republic Square, there’s a “vinyl parlor” with a DJ-quality turntable; a movie theater; a dog–grooming spa; and a rooftop pool on the 44th floor. There, you can gaze at sunsets — and a neighboring skyscraper. Nearly complete, it rises 66 stories and will have a pool to rival the Hanover’s. Actually, that’s not quite right — it’s “pools,” plural. There will be three of them.

Austin is experiencing an unrivaled apartment boom. In 2021 the region including the Texas capital issued nearly 26,000 multifamily housing permits, about 11 units per 1,000 residents. That’s more per capita than any large US metro area since 1996, when Las Vegas OK’d new apartments at only a slightly higher level, according to rental marketing firm Apartment List. By the same measure, which is based on an analysis of US census data, Austin topped the 50 largest US metropolitan areas in 9 of the last 10 years.

Many, if not most, of these apartments are classified as luxury, depending on how you define it. (Some developments are likely using a bit of real estate puffery.) Buildings such as the Hanover have become a flashpoint in a fierce, often bitter debate raging in Texas, the US and around the world. It’s about the best way to shelter this generation and the next, particularly in the most sought-after and expensive cities.

Academics, developers and people in their 20s and 30s — particularly those most active on social media — have reached an unusual level of consensus. Their solution, supported by a wealth of scholarly research, is simple and elegant: Loosen regulations, such as zoning, and build more homes of any kind — cheap, modest and palatial.

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Real estate is no longer just Location, Location, Location. 
Now, it’s about Location, Information…and Timing! 

- Alejandro Manalac, Executive Publisher
 

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