Sales of condominiums are down sharply in the Austin area this year, according to a report from the Texas Association of Realtors. Condominium sales have slowed by 12 percent through June, with only 1,178 sold so far. Austin's declining condo sales are far worse than other major Texas metro areas so far this year.

When Round Rock resident Letretia McGraw first moved into her public subsidized housing unit off Lance Lane in Round Rock in 2012, she was not happy about the change. To the 40-year-old single mother, public housing was where people went to put their lives on hold.

Austin-based Prominent Title LLC has reached an agreement to be acquired by Texan Title Holdings LLC, parent company of South Land Title LLC based in Galveston. The deal was first reached in mid-June and closed on June 30. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

With the constant fear of interest rate hikes, no sector may bear more watching than REITs and other public real estate companies. In fact, a recent report revealed REITs dominated in total insider sales since January, selling $8.8B in stocks.

In an explosive shakeup in the world of real estate crowdfunding, LA-based Realty Mogul has raised the largest amount of institutional capital in the crowdfunding sector's short history: $250M. It plans to use the cash for bridge and permanent lending. Realty Mogul CEO Jilliene Helman tells Bisnow that when crowdfunding real estate ventures began gaining some traction about two years ago, it was only seriously considered for smaller deals. But with its new round of funding, Realty Mogul can take its business to another level, as crowdfunding continues to disrupt the conventional lending space.

Some credit them with saving the housing market. Others blame them for taking advantage of a crisis and bullying real homebuyers out of the American Dream. Whatever their role, large institutional investors put a floor on home prices during the housing crash by buying up thousands of distressed, single-family homes. Now they are slowing their purchases, but not exactly getting out of the trade. They are holding on to what is becoming an increasingly lucrative asset: The single-family rental home.

A new residential community coming to Round Rock is the next step in the development of the city’s northeast corridor and reflects some of the regional real estate trends in high-end and senior housing. Traditions at Vizcaya, an upscale housing development, and Heritage at Vizcaya, an adjacent retirement community, will include about 1,200 units at build-out, Round Rock Planning Director Brad Wiseman said.

Based on data from the US Census Bureau sales of previously owned homes in the US rose by a little more than 5% in May, and the new home sales increased in May to a more than seven year high. What does this really mean?

Chinese investors continue to pour money into U.S. real estate, with California still a top destination. Hotels, condos and online real estate ventures also are booming. And luxury amenities appear to know no bounds. Soon, some Miami high-rise condo owners will be able to take their cars up to their homes with them.

Greece held their referendum over the weekend on whether to accept the most recent batch of reform proposals form Eurozone creditors, despite those proposals no longer being on the table even before the referendum began. Greek leaders figure they're in an even stronger bargaining position now that the world has seen that 60+ percent of the population voted against--well, it's not really clear what the vote was about.

No one says, "I made a lot of money by stupidly investing in a bubble and was lucky to bail at the right time." No one says, "I was stupid to invest in a bubble and when I lost my shirt it was my own silly fault." Instead success is a personal and canny triumph and losses are robberies from the innocent by the wicked. Losses are judged from the top of the artificial bubble not from the point it was inflated.

Millions of homeowners who had difficulties paying their mortgages after the housing bubble burst are nearing a point at which they could once again qualify for a home loan, according to new analysis from TransUnion. In 2015, 700,000 U.S. consumers will be capable of re-entering the housing market, and within the next five years, that population (called "Boomerang Buyers") is expected to grow to 2.2 million.

Date: 7/22/2015
Time: 6:00 pm - 10:00 pm
Uncle Billy's BBQ/Zilker Park
Austin, Texas

Date: 8/12/2015
Time: 8:00 am - 1:30 pm
JW Marriott
110 E 2nd St
Austin, Texas 78701

Date: 8/27/2015
Time: 2 pm