Lake Travis | Westlake

“In general, we’ve had a better year [in the housing market] in 2011 than we did in 2009 and 2010,” said Broker Emily Moreland with Moreland Properties. “I certainly look forward to 2012 following that same curve. It may not be gangbusters, but I think it’s going to be an upward trend.”

Moreland said she anticipated 2012 to be a good year for the housing market.

“The demand in Westlake is huge, but it’s pricing itself out of the market for many buyers, so they’re looking out in the Lake Travis community,” Moreland said. “Rocky Creek and Falconhead West have been a huge success. The high end has been slower above the million-dollar mark.”

Foreclosures reclaimed

Moreland said one of the benefits the new developers have over their former owners is that they were able to purchase the lots at a lower price, and some of the legwork is already completed.

“Their investment in the neighborhood is much less than the original developers who had to put in all the infrastructure. It’s an enormous savings for them, so they should be able to move forward and make a profit,” Moreland said.

In October 2010, Wheelock Street Capitol purchased the foreclosed Sweetwater development, a master-planned community bringing about 1,800 residences in unincorporated Travis County near Spicewood, for $34 million from Bank Midwest. The original developer had already begun constructing some of the roadways and utilities.

Developer Daniel Porter repurchased a portion of Spanish Oaks in March 2011 after Comerica Bank foreclosed on the property. In 2005, Porter had partnered with Hillwood Development Co. LLC and Discovery Land Co. LLC to develop Spanish Oaks but now has full ownership of the development after buying 158 lots and the Spanish Oaks Golf Club. He has about 100 acres of undeveloped land on which he plans to add more homes as well as some mixed-use components in a west and east village.

In July 2011, Taylor Morrison Homes purchased Ladera in Bee Cave, a development near the Hill Country Galleria that had been foreclosed on and was planned for multi- and single-family housing. Taylor Morrison decided to forgo the multifamily homes and build only single-family homes. Two hundred and sixty lots are planned, with its first lots available in early spring.