Ed Neuhaus I had a conversation last month with a homeowner in Rough Hollow who had been watching the market for almost a year, trying to figure out the right time to list. Smart person, did her homework, had been tracking Zillow estimates and reading national real estate headlines. And her read on the market was… completely wrong. Not because she was careless. Because the national headlines have almost nothing to do with what’s happening on the ground in Bee Cave, Lakeway, and Dripping Springs right now.
These three communities are each doing something different in 2026. Selling in Bee Cave is a different conversation than selling in Dripping Springs. What buyers want in Lakeway isn’t exactly what they’re chasing in Spanish Oaks. If you’re thinking about listing, understanding your specific market is the whole game. Generic seller advice will get you generic results, and in a market with 90-plus days on market for homes that aren’t positioned right, generic isn’t going to cut it.
I’ve been selling homes in this exact corridor for 16 years. So lets talk about what’s actually happening, community by community, and what it means for you as a seller.
The Big Picture First: Hill Country Sellers in 2026
The Hill Country market, like most of Austin’s suburbs, has shifted considerably from the 2021-2022 frenzy. Buyers have options now. Lots of them. Inventory across Bee Cave, Lakeway, and Dripping Springs is up meaningfully from where it was two years ago, interest rates are holding in the 6-7% range with no clear rescue coming, and the average home in this corridor is sitting on market for anywhere from 75 to 113 days depending on the community and price point.
That doesn’t mean it’s a bad time to sell. It means it’s a different kind of selling. The homes that are moving are positioned well, priced to the actual market, and marketed specifically to the buyer who wants exactly that property. The homes sitting at 120-plus days are usually the ones that priced to 2022 and never adjusted.
Out-of-state buyers are still very much in the market. California, Colorado, New York — people arriving with equity from high-cost markets, some with cash or significant down payments. But they’re savvier than they were three years ago. They’ve heard Austin “cooled off.” They’re doing more research before they land. And they’re negotiating harder when they find something they like.
The other thing worth understanding is who else is selling into this market: new construction. Dripping Springs in particular has a wave of builder inventory that didn’t exist two years ago. In Bee Cave and Lakeway the picture is a little cleaner, but you’re still competing against finished spec homes in some price ranges. Worth knowing before you list.
Ok, now to the specifics. Because the details are where this gets interesting.
Selling in Bee Cave in 2026
Bee Cave is a luxury-forward market with a mid-range underbelly, and understanding which one you’re selling into changes everything about your strategy.
The price spread in Bee Cave is genuinely wide. You’ve got resale townhomes in the -650K range, family homes in established neighborhoods like Lake Pointe and Sweetwater in the K-K range, and then the full luxury tier in Spanish Oaks, Barton Creek, and Provence that starts around .2M and goes well past M. These are not the same market. They attract different buyers, respond to different marketing, and have different levels of competition right now.
Who Is Buying in Bee Cave
The mid-range Bee Cave buyer (lets call it K-K) is mostly a move-up buyer from within Austin. Someone who owns a home in Travis Heights or South Congress, has built equity, and wants more space, better schools, and a quieter morning commute — ideally still inside 30 minutes of downtown. These buyers are payment-sensitive. They’re calculating what 6.5% does to their monthly number. If your K home is competing against a new construction home in the same price range that comes with a rate buydown, that buydown matters.
The luxury Bee Cave buyer is a different animal entirely. Spanish Oaks isn’t competing with new construction. It’s competing with West Austin’s other gated golf communities, with Barton Creek, with Westlake. These are buyers making lifestyle decisions, not mortgage math decisions. The calculus is: do I want this community, this setting, this level of exclusivity? If the answer is yes, they’ll find a way to make the money work. Price sensitivity is lower, but quality sensitivity is higher. If the home shows like it hasn’t been updated since 2014, you’ll feel it in the offers.
Bee Cave’s Big Advantage: Taxes
This is the one I always lead with when I’m working with an out-of-state seller who doesn’t know the area: Bee Cave has the lowest property tax rate in the corridor. No city tax layer on top of the county and school district rates. For a home in the K range, that’s a real number — often ,000-,000 per year lower than a comparable home in Austin proper. That’s a selling point, and not enough sellers use it.
If you’re listing in Bee Cave, make sure your marketing explicitly mentions the tax rate. California buyers especially will do the math on this. It makes a difference in how they think about total cost of ownership.
What’s Moving and What’s Sitting
Homes that are priced correctly in the K-K range are still moving at a reasonable pace, though “reasonable” in 2026 means 45-70 days, not 12. Luxury inventory above .5M is sitting longer. We have more active inventory in that tier than we’ve had in a few years, which gives buyers room to be patient and selective. If you’re selling a Spanish Oaks or Provence home, you need to price it where the market actually is right now, not where your neighbor sold for in early 2022. Those comps are expired.
The homes sitting at 120-plus days in Bee Cave are almost always overpriced at list, didn’t stage properly, or both. I wrote about this specifically in a Bee Cave pricing case study a while back — the pattern is painfully consistent.
Selling in Lakeway in 2026
Lakeway is the most balanced market of the three right now. Not as luxury-weighted as Bee Cave, not as new-construction-pressured as Dripping Springs. The median price is hovering around K-K, days on market has improved to around 75 days on recent data (down from 113 days last year, which is actually encouraging), and the buyer pool is genuinely diverse.
What Lakeway has that the others don’t is water. Lake Travis access — direct or nearby — is a meaningful differentiator for buyers who want that lifestyle. Marina communities like Rough Hollow attract a completely different buyer than a Lakeway home that’s five miles from the lake. Know which one you’re selling.
Who Is Buying in Lakeway
Three distinct buyer types are active in Lakeway right now, and I see all three regularly.
The first is the out-of-state relocator, often from California or Colorado or the Northeast, who has done their research, liked Lakeway’s mix of community amenities and outdoor access, and is arriving with solid equity or cash. These buyers often prioritize schools (Lake Travis ISD) and lifestyle amenities — marina access, Rough Hollow trails, Hill Country Galleria proximity — over pure square footage. They’re willing to pay for the setting.
The second type is the Austin upsizer: someone already in the market, maybe in Round Rock or Pflugerville or even closer-in neighborhoods, who wants more house and is willing to go further west to get it. More price-sensitive than the relocators, doing more direct comparisons per square foot, and will walk if they feel the home is stretched.
And the third — this one is growing — is the active adult or downsizer buyer. Empty nesters looking for low-maintenance living near the lake without the full luxury price tag of Westlake or Spanish Oaks. If your home is a single-story, low-maintenance property in Lakeway, lean into that angle hard. The buyer pool for it is larger than you might think.
Lakeway Inventory Is Up
There are about 254 active homes for sale in Lakeway right now, up roughly 7% from last year. At the same time, closings have slowed — roughly half the volume we’d typically see in a healthy market. More sellers, fewer active buyers in any given month. The homes that are closing are the ones positioned best, not just priced right but genuinely showing well.
Lakeway buyers tend to be lifestyle-motivated. The lake, the trails, the community. If your home doesn’t evoke that feeling in photos and marketing, you’re leaving on the table what makes Lakeway worth its price premium over inland suburbs. Drone footage of the lake, lifestyle shots of the outdoor spaces, the Hill Country views from the deck — these aren’t optional extras in Lakeway. They’re table stakes.
Selling in Dripping Springs in 2026
Dripping Springs is the most challenging of the three markets for sellers in 2026, and I want to be direct about that rather than dance around it. That doesn’t mean you can’t sell well here — it means you need to go in with clear eyes.
The headline numbers: median sale price around K, down roughly 5% year-over-year. Days on market running around 113 days. And perhaps the most telling stat — homes are selling at about 92% of list price, which means buyers are negotiating about 8% off asking as a matter of routine. If you price hoping the buyer won’t ask for anything off, you’re going to be disappointed.
The New Construction Problem
Here’s the thing about Dripping Springs that wasn’t true even two years ago: builders got busy. Very busy. About 8,000 new homes have been permitted in the broader area, and a meaningful chunk of that inventory is actively competing for the same buyer pool you’re trying to reach. New construction comes with advantages that resale can’t always match — builder warranties, rate buydowns, design center finishes, sometimes HOA fee waivers for the first year. You’re not competing with those homes on even ground.
The way to win against new construction in Dripping Springs is to lean into what resale has that builders don’t: established landscaping, mature trees, location in already-developed sections closer to town, and price. A well-priced resale home in the K-K range with a compelling presentation can absolutely compete. But if you’re priced at what you think new construction is priced at, the builder will win most of the time. Their rate buydown alone can swing a monthly payment by -, which is real money.
I covered this in detail in the Dripping Springs market analysis — if you’re selling there, read that piece before you settle on a number.
Who Is Buying in Dripping Springs
Dripping Springs buyers are predominantly family-oriented, school-driven purchases. Dripping Springs ISD has a strong reputation — recently ranked among the top districts in Texas — and that pulls families specifically looking for DSISD schools. Buyers making a Dripping Springs decision are often also cross-shopping Lakeway (LTISD). The school district comparison matters to them in ways it doesn’t in the other two communities.
There’s also a lifestyle angle specific to Dripping Springs that Bee Cave and Lakeway don’t fully share: the distillery and winery scene, the outdoor event culture, the rustic Hill Country identity. Buyers coming from places like Denver or Portland respond to this. If your property has acreage, views, or serious outdoor entertaining space, lean into it.
Pricing in Dripping Springs: Be Honest With Yourself
I’ve seen too many Dripping Springs sellers lose six months sitting on a listing that was priced 10% too high, then reducing twice and eventually selling for less than they would have gotten at a correctly-priced launch. The research on this is clear: pricing right from day one gets you better outcomes than starting high and chasing the market down.
In Dripping Springs right now, “priced right” probably means coming in at or slightly below the most recent comparable sale. The days of aspirationally pricing above comps and waiting for the market to catch up are over for this community at this moment.
Seasonal Strategy: When to List in the Hill Country
The Hill Country follows Texas seasonal patterns with its own wrinkles. Here’s what I’ve seen consistently over 16 years.
Spring — specifically late February through April — is when buyer activity peaks. Families making school-year-driven decisions are trying to close by summer so kids can start the fall semester in the new district. Corporate relocations typically execute in Q1 and Q2. If you can be on market by early March, you’ll be competing for the most active buyer pool of the year. April is historically the tightest month for days on market in this corridor, by a meaningful margin.
Summer is soft. June, July, and August see less activity as families who were looking have either bought or paused until fall. Not dead — buyers who are active in summer are often more motivated (job relocation, lease ending) — but the pool is smaller. If you have to list in summer, the urgency angle can work in your favor given less competition from other sellers.
Fall sees a secondary bump, typically September through early November, driven by end-of-year corporate relocations and buyers trying to close before the holidays. Not as strong as spring, but real.
The practical implication: if you’re reading this in February or early March, you’re sitting at exactly the right moment to get your home ready and capture the spring market. The timing advantage is right in front of you.
What Hill Country Buyers Are Actually Looking for in 2026
Buyers in this corridor are not the frantic 2021 buyers who waived inspections and bid K over asking sight unseen. They’re doing their homework. Comparing a lot of homes. And they have a list.
Outdoor Living
Not a patio. Outdoor living. A covered outdoor kitchen, a pool that looks maintained and inviting, a deck with Hill Country views — these are the elements that make buyers stop scrolling. Texas buyers live outside for 8-9 months of the year. If your outdoor spaces are a selling point, make sure they look like it before photos are taken. A pressure-washed deck and a staged outdoor seating area does real work in MLS photos.
HVAC and Mechanical Systems
This has become a quiet deal-killer I see constantly. A buyer in 2026 is not skipping the inspection, and when the report comes back with a 12-year-old HVAC system, the negotiation shifts. If you know your mechanical systems are aging, getting a pre-listing inspection and either replacing or pricing accordingly is the smart move. Buyers would rather see a new system or a price that reflects the system’s age than discover it in the inspection and lose confidence in the whole property.
Home Office
Remote and hybrid work normalized in this corridor faster than almost anywhere in Austin because so many buyers here are tech workers or professionals who relocated precisely because they could work from anywhere. A dedicated home office with a door is a genuine value-add. If you have one, make sure it shows as an office, not storage. If you don’t have a dedicated office but have a flex space, stage it as one.
Schools and Community Context
The school district question is answered by your zip code, but the community context isn’t. Buyers want to understand what life is actually like here — what the drive to the highway looks like, what the weekend rhythm is, whether people actually know their neighbors. Hill Country living is a lifestyle purchase as much as a real estate purchase, and the marketing that communicates that lifestyle converts better with out-of-state buyers especially.
Marketing Hill Country Properties: What Actually Works
National platforms like Zillow and Realtor.com are table stakes — your listing will be there. But the marketing that actually finds the right Hill Country buyer in 2026 goes beyond syndication.
Drone Footage Is Not Optional
If you’re listing a home in Bee Cave, Lakeway, or Dripping Springs without drone footage, you’re at a competitive disadvantage. The Hill Country setting — the terrain, the views, the proximity to water or greenbelt, the lot context — doesn’t communicate in ground-level photos. A 90-second drone video that captures the property in context of its surroundings filters in the buyer who specifically wants that setting. In Lakeway especially, where water proximity is a meaningful price driver, drone footage isn’t a nice-to-have. It’s how you justify your asking price.
Lifestyle Marketing Over Feature Marketing
The buyers most likely to pay your price are buying a life, not a list of features. “4 bed, 3 bath, 2,800 sqft” describes every house in your price range in the corridor. “Saturday morning coffee on the covered deck with a Hill Country view, kids on the school bus in 8 minutes, marina ten minutes away” describes a life. The homes that sell fastest and closest to list price tend to have marketing that bridges from features to lifestyle.
This matters especially for out-of-state buyers making decisions off digital materials. The video walkthrough, the lifestyle photography, the listing description that paints a picture — these carry enormous weight for a buyer doing research from a coffee shop in San Francisco or Denver.
Targeting Out-of-State Buyers
The California, Colorado, and New York buyer pools are real and active in all three communities. They arrive with a different reference set than a buyer who’s lived in Austin for a decade. They’re often impressed by things locals take for granted — the space, the lot sizes, the relative quiet — and they need context on things locals know instinctively, like how LTISD stacks up nationally, what the Hill Country Galleria offers, or why Bee Cave’s tax structure is favorable.
Marketing materials that anticipate the out-of-state buyer’s questions aren’t just nice to have. They’re conversion tools. The listing description that explains the community context, the school district ranking, the commute time, the lifestyle elements — that content does real work for a buyer who hasn’t been here yet.
Pricing Strategy: The Hard Part
I’ve covered pricing in depth in a separate pricing strategy piece, but here’s the Hill Country-specific version:
Each of these three markets has its own comps. What sold in Dripping Springs doesn’t tell you much about what your Lakeway home is worth. Even within Bee Cave, Spanish Oaks comps and Lake Pointe comps are essentially different markets. Your pricing needs to be built on what has actually closed in the last 90 days within your specific community, at your specific price tier, with similar finish and condition. Not what sold a year ago. Not what your neighbor listed at.
The mistake I see most often is sellers anchoring to a number from a Zestimate that hasn’t fully adjusted to current conditions. In Texas — a non-disclosure state — Zestimates are working with incomplete data and often lag the real market by several months. The only number that matters is what a qualified buyer will pay today, given today’s rates, today’s inventory, and today’s competition.
Right-pricing on day one beats “start high and negotiate down” in this market, consistently. Homes that sit get stigmatized. Buyers start wondering what’s wrong. The longer a home sits, the more leverage the eventual buyer has. I’ve watched sellers net less money chasing the market down over three months than they would have gotten from a properly-priced launch in week one.
Before You List: The Preparation Checklist
Tackle the deferred maintenance. That list of things you’ve been meaning to fix — the gate latch, the cracked tile, the cabinet door that doesn’t quite close. Do those before you list. Buyers in a buyer’s market use every imperfection as ammunition. A home that shows clean and well-maintained signals that the bigger systems have been cared for. One that has visible minor deferred maintenance makes buyers wonder what else they’re not seeing.
Stage for your actual buyer. If you’re selling a family home in Lakeway, the staging should communicate family life done well. If you’re selling a Spanish Oaks luxury property, it should feel aspirational. Staging for the wrong buyer type is a subtle drag that’s hard to quantify but real. Our Hill Country staging guide goes deep on this if you want the detail.
Professional photography and video are not negotiable at any price point above K. Drone footage is table stakes. If your agent is suggesting anything less, that’s a conversation worth having.
Know your full cost of selling going in. Closing costs, potential concessions, the commission conversation — model your net proceeds before you commit to a list price. I’ve seen sellers surprised at closing in ways that were entirely avoidable with upfront planning.
And if you’re wondering whether now is actually the right time, or whether waiting makes sense for your specific situation, this piece on timing walks through the math honestly. Short version: the carrying cost of waiting is real, and the “wait for rates to drop” strategy has been wrong for three consecutive years now.
Frequently Asked Questions
We Live and Work Here
At Neuhaus Realty Group, the Hill Country isn’t a territory we service — it’s where we live. My daughter goes to school in LTISD. I drive the roads between Bee Cave and Lakeway and Dripping Springs regularly, not because the GPS says so, but because this is home. I know which neighborhoods the relocation buyers get excited about when they arrive for their first tour. I know which Rough Hollow view corridors are worth the premium and which ones lose the lake sightline within five years as trees mature. I know which Dripping Springs communities have builder incentives that genuinely compete with resale and which ones are just noise.
That kind of knowledge doesn’t come from a market report. It comes from 16 years of transactions in this exact corridor.
If you’re thinking about selling in Bee Cave, Lakeway, or Dripping Springs, the conversation starts with an honest look at your specific property, your timeline, and what the market will actually bear right now. I’ll give you the straight version, not the optimistic one.
Connect with Ed at Neuhaus Realty Group for a no-pressure market analysis of your Hill Country home. We’ll tell you what we’d actually list it for, what the realistic timeline looks like, and whether now is the right time for your situation.
