Celebrity casa

Oscar winner flips the script with quiet purchase of Austin mansion

Emma Stone, who scooped up the Oscar for Best Actress in 2017 for her performance in La La Land, has now scooped up an Austin home, too.

ABC/Tyler Golden

Oscar-winning movie star Emma Stone has joined the cavalcade of celebrities who’ve been scooping up homes in the Austin area.

Real estate website Dirt.com reported April 13 that Stone purchased an estate in Central Austin’s much-sought-after Tarrytown neighborhood for an undisclosed amount last May. The sellers were C. Patrick Oles Jr. and his wife, Julie. He is president and CEO of Austin-based Barshop & Oles Co., a real estate developer and manager.

Travis County property records show the Oleses sold the property to a business entity tied to Craig Tessler, who reportedly is Stone’s Los Angeles-based business manager. No for-sale listing could be found online for the home. The Oleses bought the estate in 1997.

Estimates of the home’s current value range from more than $4.4 million to over $7.1 million. Dirt.com says Stone — whose notable films include La La Land, Cruella, and Crazy, Stupid, Love — “quietly shelled out what was likely a small fortune for [the] sumptuous Austin estate.”

The nearly 5,000-square-foot mansion, built in 1940, features four bedrooms and three-and-a-half bathrooms. It sits on a nearly one-and-a-quarter-acre lot.

“Set behind hedges and mature evergreen trees, the triple-wide lot is mostly hidden from the street, though the ... mansion’s elegant brick façade and white columns are visible from certain angles, as are the gorgeous crepe myrtle trees that decorate the motorcourt,” Dirt.com says.

Highlights of the home include an oversized swimming pool, formal gardens, vast lawns shaded by a forest-like canopy of trees, and a garage apartment, according to Dirt.com and Travis County property records.

The Austin estate brings to four the number of homes Stone owns in the U.S. Her portfolio also includes two properties in Southern California and an apartment in New York City, according to Dirt.com.

Stone joins a number of celebrities who’ve recently added Austin-area addresses, such as singer-songwriter Grimes (ex-partner of Elon Musk), podcaster Joe Rogan, former Bachelor and Bachelorette host Chris Harrison, Queer Eye personality Jonathan Van Ness, Dawson’s Creek star James Van Der Beek, X-Men and Superman Returns star James Marsden, and Entourage star Adrian Grenier.

Stone married comedian, writer, and former Saturday Night Live producer Dave McCary in 2020. The following year, they welcomed their first child, a girl named Louise Jean McCary. The couple met during her SNL hosting gig in December 2016.

celebrities

local real estate report

Homebuyers can afford to be picky as Austin housing inventory rises

Photo by Avinash Kumar on Unsplash

Housing economist Clare Losey said the most significant factor affecting home sales in Austin is high mortgage rates.

The latest real estate report from Unlock MLS and the Austin Board of Realtors (ABoR) has revealed housing inventory is still on a steady rise in the Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos MSA, creating more choices for potential homebuyers as they navigate a high interest rate market.

Residential home sales dipped by a mere 1.5 percent year-over-year from October 2023, amounting to 2,248 closed sales in the Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos MSA. Median prices have also dropped to $430,000, or 3.2 percent less than this time last year. More than 3,300 new home listings were added on the market — a 7.4 percent increase from 2023 — bringing the total number of active home listings to 11,599.

According to Unlock MLS and ABoR housing economist Clare Losey, Ph.D., October's mortgage rates stood at 6.4 percent and are showing no signs of a significant drop in the near future. Even heading into 2025, Losey says potential homebuyers who are biding their time in the hopes of seeing rates plummet "may be in for a long wait."

"In the meantime, sellers must recognize that bringing buyers to the table requires a more aggressive pricing approach," Losey said. "Even in a more balanced market, buyers with limited purchasing power are struggling to meet current price expectations."

As for the overall health of the Central Texas housing market, 2024 Unlock MLS and ABoR president Kent Redding labeled recent news reports that called Austin "ground zero" for a downturn as an "extreme over-exaggeration."

"Austin led the state and nation in record-breaking home price growth and sales activity during the pandemic," Redding said. "For three years, near-zero housing inventory, numerous offers above list price and a rapid-paced market raised home prices and left little negotiating power for buyers. During this record-setting growth, ABoR and Unlock MLS consistently emphasized the unsustainability of the rapid growth, and now, our market is working to balance those extremes."

Central Texas housing trends in October 2024

In Travis County, 979 homes were sold last month — a slight 2.5 percent increase from last year. Median prices remained flat year-over-year at $510,000. Active home listings continued growing to 5,702 homes, which is 9.4 percent more year-over-year.

In Williamson County, 807 homes were sold in October, with median prices steadily dropping to $420,000. There were 1,028 new home listings on the market, showing a 4.5 percent increase from October 2023, bringing the total number of active home listings to 3,369.

Residential home sales dropped by nearly eight percent in Hays County in October, totaling 315 sales. Median prices also fell 5.5 percent year-over-year to $359,000. Active listings rose 6.6 percent year-over-year to 1,740 homes with the addition of 534 new listings on the market.

Meanwhile, 114 homes were sold in Bastrop County last month, which is 4.4 percent more than this time last year. Median prices dropped by a single percentage point year-over-year to $355,000. There were 654 active listings on the market in October, and 152 new home listings, representing a 1.3 percent slip in new inventory when compared to last year.

Only 33 homes were sold in Caldwell County in October to reflect a near 14 percent decline year-over-year from October 2023. Median prices fell to $262,990, which was a 13.5 percent decrease from last year. There were 136 active homes on the market last month, and 40 new homes added on the market.

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