The Real Estate Council of Austin, which bills itself as the local "voice of the commercial real estate industry," has issued its first white paper advocating for 100,000 new housing units to be built within the city limits by 2025 — across a variety of price points — and calls on the city to encourage higher-density housing downtown.

Transportation issues made up the majority of the discussion during the Jan. 14 Real Estate Council of Austin Ideas Forum, which included guest speakers Texas House Representatives Eddie Rodriguez and Paul Workman.

Transportation advocates were dealt a heavy blow in November when the $1 billion rail and road ballot initiative was soundly rejected by voters. Unlike the 2000 rail-only initiative, which was broader and almost passed, this one wasn’t even close with only 43 percent of the electorate giving it a thumbs up.

It got me thinking. Where do we go from here? Do we need another large-scale rail project to consider? Or do we already have alternative transportation assets to improve, grow and leverage as Austin continues to expand?

Back during the 1980s Oil Patch bust, a few East Coast bankers plastered "Don’t Mess With Texas" bumper stickers on the front of their desks.

With the current oil price plunge, will lenders and property equity players take the time to understand the differences between the real estate markets of Houston and Dallas?

According to CBRE Group, the U.S. commercial real estate market showed continued health across all property types in the fourth quarter of 2014.

The office vacancy rate declined by 20 basis points (bps) from the previous quarter to reach 13.9% in Q4 2014 and ended the year 100 bps lower than 2013. The 2014 office market's performance was the best since 2007.

Dewitt M. Peart will become the next Downtown Austin Alliance president and CEO, the advocacy group announced December 7.

Carrie Caesar, the new president of the Commercial Real Estate Women (CREW) Network, has a bold new strategy to open doors for women in the real estate industry.

BuildingATX has covered several examples of East Austin development recently, and as demand continues to be strong for residential, retail, and office uses east of I-35, we will continue to see infill and redevelopment projects in this part of the city.

The Lonestar Rail (LSTAR) is a proposed regional rail line that has been in the works since 2003. If built as proposed, it could provide passenger rail service from north of Austin to downtown San Antonio within existing freight rail corridors. Next week, the Lonestar Rail District organizers are holding a series of public meetings in order to update the public and give them an opportunity to voice concerns.

Experts say the Westlake commercial boom will expand to the Lake Travis region next

Recent commercial property construction along Capital of Texas Hwy. is one indication West Austin is no longer just a collection of wooded Hill Country neighborhoods.

What a year for real estate — 2014 will go into the record books as a time when the Dallas-Fort Worth property market was white hot.

12.258 acres -- of prime commercial land has become available in eastern Texas in the town of Lufkin. Located off the U.S. 59 freeway and Loop 287, traffic has increased in recent years, lending a much higher visibility to local businesses on Medford Drive, the area’s major thoroughfare. The land is positioned inside not only the city limits of Lufkin, but within the section of Lufkin that has experienced the majority of the area’s growth commercially.

The Federal Aviation Administration issued drone permits to companies in the agricultural and real estate sectors for the first time. The exemptions to the ban on commercial drone use are specifically for crop scouting and enhanced aerial footage of buildings, according to an FAA statement.

While it is impossible to divine the future, we can prognosticate on some potential commercial real estate trends in 2015.

Date: 1/22/2015
Time: 5:30 pm - 7:30 pm

Speakeasy
412D Congress Ave.

Date: 2/19/2015
Time: 6:00 pm - 11:00 pm

JW Marriott
111 Congress Ave.